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10 Apr 2026
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10 Apr 2026
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More than half of young adults say they feel less financially secure than they had expected to be by this point in their lives, a survey has found.
Some 51% of Gen Z adults aged 18 to 29 said they feel this way, as did 53% of Millennials, aged 30 to 45, according to the research from Intuit Credit Karma.
Half (50%) of Gen X adults aged 46 to 61 had expected to feel more financially secure by now, as did around a third (32%) of the Baby Boomer generation aged 62 to 80.
A fifth (81%) of people aged 81 and over who were surveyed also felt this way.
Looking at Millennials, who are often dealing with the financial pressures of raising a family, nearly two-thirds (62%) said they had made at least one purchase in the past year shaped by how they feel about ageing and where they are in life.
Travel and experiences, gym memberships and personal training, designer clothes and shoes, jewellery and watches, wellness tech and cosmetic treatments were among the most popular purchases. The average annual spend on purchases shaped by feelings about getting older was £1,888.
Two-fifths (41%) of Millennials said that big purchases are more about helping them “reset” than treating themselves.
More than half (51%) have bought items to feel more confident, and 40% to feel more in control.
Nearly a third (32%) of Millennials said they tend to make big purchases when feeling stressed, and 37% have spent extravagantly due to feeling “stuck” or burned out.
Akansha Nath, general manager (international) at Intuit Credit Karma, said: “A lot of Millennials are carrying a quiet sense that they are not quite where they expected to be by now, financially or otherwise.
“What this research shows is that feeling is translating directly into spending, often on credit, and often at moments when people are stressed or burned out rather than in a clear-headed place to make financial decisions.”
Credit Karma commissioned Opinium to survey 2,000 people across the UK in February.
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