Financial Firsts: When Americans Hit Their Money Milestones

Across banking, credit, investing, and income, younger Americans are reaching major financial milestones at lower rates than prior generations, not just later but in some cases not at all. Motley Fool Money's 2026 Financial Firsts Survey tracks nine financial milestones across four generations, revealing where the gaps are structural, where they are product-driven, and where they may close as Gen Z ages.

The survey covers when Americans first opened a checking or savings account, got a credit card, bought a car, purchased a home, started investing, established a 401(k) or IRA, took out a life insurance policy, and reached a household income of $63,000, the approximate U.S. median in 2018.

It also asks what each generation considers their biggest financial regret.

Millennials hold half the real estate baby boomers did at the same age

Millennials now hold 21% of U.S. real estate, roughly half the 40% share baby boomers held when they were the same age, according to Federal Reserve data. At the individual level, Redfin's analysis of Census Bureau Current Population Survey data finds that 62% of 40-year-old millennials owned their home in 2022, compared with 69% of baby boomers when they were 40.

Motley Fool Money's survey shows why: 78% of Gen Z respondents and 47% of millennials have not yet purchased a home, compared with 22% of baby boomers.

• Baby boomers purchased homes most heavily in the 25-to-34 age range, with 42% first buying in that window, according to Motley Fool Money's survey. That pattern has not carried forward: most Gen Zers have not purchased at all, and among those who have, the majority bought between ages 18 and 24, when prices and mortgage rates were more favorable to first-time buyers.
  
  

• The median age of a first-time home buyer reached 40 in 2025, an all-time high, according to the National Association of Realtors' 2025 Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends Report. Gen Z's homeownership rate stood at 27% in 2025, essentially flat since 2022, per Redfin/CPS data.
• Homeownership rates have been flat across generations since at least 2023, per Redfin/Census data: Millennials at 55%, Gen X at 73%, baby boomers at 80%. The difference is that older generations plateaued at substantially higher rates.

Millennials are behind baby boomers when it comes to real estate ownership, even when compared at the same ages, not just overall. And with homeownership rates flat since 2023, the gap does not appear to be closing.

Gen Z is three times as likely as baby boomers to have opened an HYSA as their first savings account

Banking firsts are generally achieved at the same age across generations. Roughly 80% of respondents in all four groups opened their first checking account before age 25. What has changed is the product.

• 27% of Gen Z respondents opened their first savings account as a high-yield savings account (HYSA), compared with 18% of Gen X and 11% of baby boomers, according to Motley Fool Money's survey. HYSAs barely existed as a mainstream retail product when baby boomers were opening their first accounts. Baby boomers are catching up, with 35% having since opened an HYSA after their initial account, but Gen Z enters the savings market with a different product.
• 18% of Gen Z opened their first checking account at an online bank, versus 4% of Gen X and 2% of baby boomers, per the survey. That gap reflects the recent growth of digital-first banking and a shift in where younger Americans do their banking.
• Baby boomers were more likely than any other generation to open a savings account before age 18, with 52% doing so, compared with 30% of Gen Z, per the survey. Passbook savings accounts were a common childhood fixture for that generation; the equivalent entry point for Gen Z appears to be the HYSA.

A first savings account opened as an HYSA sets different expectations around yield than one opened at a traditional institution, a distinction that may shape how Gen Z thinks about savings products.

1 in 5 Gen Z credit cardholders got their first card as an authorized user

Most Americans get their first credit card between ages 18 and 24 across every generation, but how they get it and what type of card they start with has changed sharply. Getting added to a parent's or guardian's account as an authorized user before applying independently has grown from a rare entry point into a common one.

• 20% of Gen Z credit cardholders got their first card as an authorized user on a parent's or guardian's account, versus 11% of millennials and 4% of baby boomers, according to Motley Fool Money's survey. The trend likely reflects both the expansion of authorized user programs and a deliberate parental strategy of building children's credit histories earlier.
• Cash back cards are the most common first card for Gen Z (31%), ahead of no-annual-fee cards, which topped the list for millennials (35%), Gen X (38%), and baby boomers (42%). Baby boomers were most likely to start with a retail or store card (35%), a product category that accounts for just 11% of millennials' first cards today, per the survey.
• 26% of Gen Z respondents have not yet gotten their first credit card, the highest rate of any generation for this milestone, per the survey. For context, 11% of millennials and 7% of Gen X haven't done so.

The shift from store cards to cash back cards as the default first product reflects both a change in what issuers market to new cardholders and a change in what younger consumers prioritize in a credit card.

First-car timing is consistent across generations, but the gap is in who gets there at all

The first car purchase is one of the few financial milestones where timing, for those who complete it, is roughly stable across generations. The 18-to-24 window is the most common purchase period for all four groups.

• Among Gen Z respondents who have purchased a car, 69% did so between ages 18 and 24, a higher concentration than baby boomers (60%), according to Motley Fool Money's survey. When Gen Zers buy cars, they buy them young -- the question is how many do.
• 38% of Gen Z respondents have not yet purchased a car, compared with 15% of millennials, 9% of Gen X, and 9% of baby boomers, per the survey. Given that Gen Z respondents range from ages 18 to 29, some of this gap reflects life stage, as this group has had less time to accumulate the income and stability that typically precede a first car purchase, or simply may not need their own vehicle at their life stage.
• The car purchase gap for Gen Z is more likely to close with age than the homeownership gap, where structural affordability barriers are better documented. Baby boomers' 9% non-purchase rate was reached over a lifetime; Gen Z's 38% reflects a cohort still mostly under 30, per the survey.

Whether Gen Z's car purchase rate catches up to prior generations as the cohort ages will be one indicator of whether the broader milestone gaps are a matter of timing or something more persistent.

Gen Z's early investors started younger than any prior generation

Seven percent of all Gen Z respondents started investing before age 18, the highest pre-18 rate of any generation, although 59% haven't started at all. When Gen Z investors do start, they lead with individual stocks or crypto: Apple is the most commonly named first investment at 15%, followed by cryptocurrency at 11%, a pattern distinct from baby boomers, whose top first pick was IBM.

• The share who haven't started investing is similar across the three older generations: 46% of millennials, 47% of Gen X, and 46% of baby boomers, per Motley Fool Money's survey. Gen Z's 59% non-investing rate is higher, likely a reflection of age. The more interesting generational difference isn't whether people have invested, it's how young they were when they did: 7% of Gen Z started before 18, versus 2% of millennials, 2% of Gen X, and under 1% of baby boomers.
• Individual stocks are the most common first investment across every generation: 48% of Gen Z investors, 42% of millennials, 40% of Gen X, and 37% of baby boomers, per the survey. Index funds and ETFs account for roughly 21% to 24% across all four groups.

• The 401(k) is a less dominant entry point into investing with each successive generation: 87% of baby boomer investors first invested through an employer 401(k), compared with 84% of Gen X, 77% of millennials, and 66% of Gen Z, per the survey (investors only). The share starting in both a 401(k) and an individual brokerage account simultaneously has risen from 2% of baby boomers to 15% of Gen Z, suggesting Gen Z investors are opening a brokerage account at the same time as a 401(k), not years later.
• 63% of Gen Z respondents have not yet established a 401(k) or IRA, compared with 38% of millennials, 30% of Gen X, and 25% of baby boomers, per the survey. That said, 38% of Gen Z respondents are ages 18 to 20 and likely aren't yet in roles that offer an employer-sponsored plan. Federal Reserve data shows the same pattern nationally, with only 28% of adults ages 18 to 24 holding a tax-preferred retirement account, rising to 63% of those ages 25 to 54.

Individual stocks have not lost ground to index funds as the first investment of choice across any generation, suggesting that the rise of passive investing and growing access to employer-sponsored retirement plans has not yet changed how most people enter the market for the first time.

Life insurance is the least-reached milestone for every generation

Of the nine milestones surveyed, establishing a life insurance policy has the highest "haven't done so" rate for every generation, including baby boomers, where 40% report they haven't done it.

• 67% of Gen Z respondents have not established a life insurance policy, compared with 48% of millennials, 37% of Gen X, and 40% of baby boomers, according to Motley Fool Money's survey. That suggests life insurance isn't something people are more likely to sign up for simply as they get older.
• Among Gen Z respondents who have established life insurance, 70% did so at ages 18 to 24. Among millennials who established life insurance, 47% did so at ages 25 to 34, per the survey. The earlier establishment age for Gen Z likely reflects employer-provided group life coverage becoming available at first jobs.
• Federal Reserve data shows 24% of all adults have cash value in a life insurance policy, rising to 30% for adults ages 55 to 64 and 33% for those 65 and older. Coverage is lowest among the 18-to-24 age group at 7%, consistent with the survey's finding that Gen Z has the highest non-establishment rate.

Life insurance stands out as the one milestone where even the oldest generation in the survey has a large non-establishment rate, pointing to a product that most haven't gotten to, at any age.

74% of Gen Z have not yet reached the 2018 U.S. median household income

The survey asked respondents at what age, if any, they first earned a household income of $63,000 or more, the approximate U.S. median household income in 2018, which serves as a cross-generational benchmark. The median income in 2024 was $83,730.

• 74% of Gen Z respondents have not yet reached a $63,000 household income, compared with 46% of millennials, 40% of Gen X, and 45% of baby boomers, according to Motley Fool Money's survey. That fewer baby boomers hit that income threshold than Gen X likely reflects a somewhat lower retirement income, as many baby boomers in the sample are past peak earning years.
• For millennials who reached the threshold, the 25-to-34 age window is the most common (31%), consistent with career progression into higher-paying roles. Baby boomers reached it later on average, with 24% first hitting $63,000 at ages 35 to 44, per the survey.
• 15% of Gen Z respondents reached the $63,000 threshold between ages 18 and 24, a higher early-career rate than millennials (9%) at the same ages, per the survey. This aligns with post-pandemic wage growth for entry-level workers, though it covers a minority of the Gen Z cohort.

Inflation adds another layer: $63,000 in 2018 is equivalent to roughly $79,000 in 2024 dollars, meaning younger workers reaching that threshold today are achieving less purchasing power than the number implies.

Credit card debt is the top financial regret of every generation

When asked about their first major financial mistake, respondents across all four generations named the same top answer: credit card debt.

• The percentage citing credit card debt as their top financial regret rises with age, suggesting the full weight of that debt becomes clearer only in retrospect (17% of Gen Z, 24% of millennials, 26% of Gen X, and 32% of baby boomers, according to Motley Fool Money's survey).
• Baby boomers' second-ranked regret is not saving for retirement early enough (19%), while Gen Z's second-ranked regrets are tied between student loan debt and not investing in stocks earlier (both at 10%), per the survey. The gap reflects how financial priorities shift across life stages.
• 22% of Gen Z report no financial regrets, the highest rate of any generation, per the survey. This reflects limited financial history, not necessarily better money management. Gen Z respondents are ages 18 to 29 and have had less time to make or recognize mistakes. Millennial, Gen X, and baby boomer "no regrets" rates are 14%, 13%, and 16% respectively.
  
  

Where younger generations are furthest behind, specifically homeownership, retirement accounts, and investing, those are the same areas where older generations report the most regret about starting too late or taking on too much debt to get there.

What financial milestone data tells us

Two things stand out from the data. First, when Americans hit their financial firsts has stayed largely the same across generations, what's changed is the products they use to get there. Second, some wealth-building milestones, homeownership especially, show real gaps that aren't closing, which suggest fundamental changes in economic conditions.

But financial milestones have never followed a single schedule. Everyone has a unique financial situation, goals, and values that determine when they start investing or buy a home. It's never too late to hit those marks, and there's no race. The numbers in this survey reflect when Americans hit certain milestones, not when they needed to.