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What Is Gen Z?

By Kristi Waterworth – Updated Sep 14, 2025 at 10:50 PM EST

Key Points

60% of Gen Z owned cryptocurrencies in 2022, showing a high interest in digital assets.
Gen Z also invests in stocks (60%), real estate (30%), and retirement accounts (28%).
Popular investment sectors for Gen Z include financial, energy, real estate, and tech.

Every generation has its notable quirks and consistencies that are important to understand when speaking about them in a broader sense. These are often traits that unite them as a generation. With Generation Z (also known as Gen Z) coming into its own, it’s important to understand who they are and what motivates them.

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Group of teenagers hanging out by a brick wall. — Image source: Getty Images.

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Demographics

Demographics are statistical characteristics of a population. They can include almost any descriptive trait, but the usual data points include gender, age, race, ethnicity, income and more.

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About the Author

Kristi Waterworth has been a contributing real estate and financial expert at The Motley Fool, covering real estate, investing, and personal finance topics, since 2020. Kristi has been interviewed by various TV media outlets and podcasts for her real estate investing expertise – from residential real estate to digital real estate and everything in between. Kristi’s journalist career spans over 25 years, and she has written about real estate investing, homeownership, and home construction specifically for the last decade. She was also previously a licensed Realtor and general building contractor before the Great Recession and housing market collapse. She holds a bachelor’s degree in American history from Columbia College in Missouri.

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