Finance· strategyGen Z are six times more ly to be now than in 2015—driven by economic optimism and ‘social media investment fads,’ says JPMorganBy Eleanor PringleBy Eleanor PringleReporterEleanor PringleReporterEleanor Pringle is an award-winning reporter at Fortune covering news, the economy, and personal finance.
Eleanor previously worked as a correspondent and news editor in regional news in the U.K.
She her journalism training with the Press Association after earning a degree from the University of East Anglia.SEE FULL BIO Gen Z—and in particular men—are driving the next era of retail investors, finds JPMorgan.LanaStock - Getty ImagesJPMorgan re shows Gen Z—particularly men—have driven a surge in retail since the pandemic, with participation among 25-year-olds jumping from 6% in 2015 to 37% in 2024.
While gaps by gender and income persist, the bank said financial education will be crucial as more first-time investors face the realities of taxes, volatility, and losses.
Over the past decade retail investors have become a force to be reckoned with, ving they have the strength in numbers to outplay Wall Street fessionals if the mood takes them.
And between 2015 and 2025 a new demographic has emerged to drive the cohort into its next era: Gen Z and, more specifically, men.
According to a study released by JPMorgan Chase this week, the number of 25-year-olds using savings accounts in 2015 was 6%.
By 2024 that had surged to 37% with America’s biggest bank expecting the trend to stick around. “Growth in the of young people with investments accelerated in the years up to and during the pandemic.
After that point, our measure shows a modest retracement,” Chris Wheat, president of the JPMorganChase Institute and George Eckerd, wealth and re director at the JPMorganChase Institute, wrote.
“As context, labor force participation increases sharply for people in the late-teens, early-twenties population.
For people without significant incomes during the pandemic, their finances were less ly to be directly affected by the savings boom.
“The rise in for younger individuals may therefore capture a temporary cohort effect, strongest for those with meaningful incomes during the unique 2020−21 period.
While participation for 25-year-olds may continue to decline from this peak, the new norm appears ly to remain substantially higher than during the pre-pandemic era.” Some might assume that young people, trapped in their s and with money of their own to spend for the first time, may have spent their pandemic splurging their funds on online shopping.
JPMorgan doesn’t believe this is the case—at least not entirely—they believe earners also spent time on social media seeing how other people were their cash.
Referencing a 2022 re letter the retail traders involved in the GameStop frenzy, the wrote: “Demographic shifts in flows during the pandemic—driven in part by social media investment fads—were much larger than the modest month-to-month differentiation appearing in the ensuing years.” An increased interest in financial ducts among younger people offers an opportunity for imvement, added Wheat and Eckerd: “Expansion in of younger generations highlights the importance of financial education tailored to these new entrants in financial to support long-term outcomes for a larger population.
In rising , a broader part of the population will face tax implications of capital gains, which may be a source of negative financial surprises around tax time if financial education doesn’t adapt.” “In market downturns, we’ll see a significant number of new investors facing losses—directly visible to them in real-time.
New investors, or even seasoned ones, may not be adequately well equipped to manage their responses, suggesting potential shifting roles for financial advisors.” The investment gap Many of the individuals drawn to during the pandemic were men.
JPMorgan’s re found that while the number of female customers making transfers into investment accounts rose during the pandemic (up from around 15% in 2020 to 20% in 2021), ultimately their participation as a of retail investors as a whole stayed relatively flat at a little over 35%.
Conversely, the number of men transferring cash into investment accounts spiked from around 20% to apximately 30%—and still sit significantly (apximately 7%) ahead of female counterparts.
“While flows of men increased in November 2024 relative to women, they subsequently returned close to their 2024 average.
Changes in economic optimism, potentially related to political outcomes, could explain the temporary gender shift,” the JP duo added.
While studies have shown women can ve to be better investors than men, they are also reportedly more risk-adverse and lose out on gains as a result.
A 2024 study from insurance and pensions giant Aviva showed nearly four in 10 women don’t invest, with 18% of them saying the risk is too high for them to consider it.
But other imbalances are being addressed, JPMorgan found, with accessible platforms mobile apps making it easier for lower-income earners to engage with .
While “sizable” gaps remain between higher earners and lower, the report found the below-median-income of investors in 2014 sat at around 22%, which spiked to apximately 35% during the pandemic.
At present that figure has normalized to around 30%. “Greater growth among lower-income individuals has narrowed the gap across income groups,” the pair noted.
“This means that in the first half of the 2010s, below-median-income individuals made up apximately 20% of those in a given month, whereas in May 2025 their was 31%.
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