These Gen Z-ers are choosing ETFs over sports -2-

"Jackson's class opened our eyes to [the fact that] our paychecks don't have to be our end-all, be-all," Wilson said. "Make your current money make additional money for your future."

Haley Brown, a 24-year-old public-relations professional from Brooklyn, invests in ETFs and mutual funds after getting burned during the pandemic stock boom.

The ETF investor

Name: Haley Brown

Age: 24

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Occupation: Public-relations professional

During the pandemic stock boom, Brown dumped her savings into speculative single stocks like electric-vehicle maker Lucid (LCID), which is down 98% from its 2021 high. When BuzzFeed (BZFD) went public in 2021 at nearly $40 a share, she bought $100 of the media company's stock; today, the shares are worth about $1 each. She did make one good stock pick at the time: Meta Platforms (META), which is up 75% since then. "You win some, you lose some," Brown said.

But these experiences taught Brown valuable lessons about the risk that comes with investing in single stocks, and she's since adjusted her portfolio. Today, she automatically transfers money into a robo-invested Fidelity Roth IRA. She also auto-transfers funds toward a few ETFs and mutual funds like Invesco QQQ QQQ, an index fund tracking the Nasdaq-100 NDX. And "after all of the tariff shenanigans" in 2025, she bought into a Vanguard Total International Stock ETF VXUS that consists of shares of companies located outside of the U.S., to hedge against volatility in the American market.

The public-market debuts of companies like Figma (FIG), Reformation (REF) and SpaceX (SPCX) over the past two years all looked tempting to Brown - but she "watched those, rather than buying on the day of the IPO, because I learned my lesson with BuzzFeed."

Liv Shin, a 27-year-old financial planner and fitness instructor, said her portfolio looks a lot like those managed by her Gen X clients.

The side hustler

Name: Liv Shin

Age: 27

Location: Los Angeles

Occupation: Financial adviser, fitness instructor

Shin's professional expertise as a financial adviser mirrors her personal portfolio, which she described as conservative. Managing her wealth through ETFs and deep diversification, she avoids speculative assets like cryptocurrencies.

"I feel like sometimes I'm stuck in a Gen X body, because I invest pretty similarly to a lot of my clients," Shin said.

Shin balances her safe-haven portfolio with extra cash flow from her side job as a fitness instructor. She directs that fitness income into a separate bank account - what she calls her "fun bucket" - to self-fund a community-focused lifestyle brand under her own LLC. For Shin, having multiple income streams is a natural Gen Z response to a shifting world.

"There are a lot of folks nowadays that are picking up side hustles or wanting to start a business," she said. "It doesn't just have to be one thing."

By the numbers: How young MarketWatch readers invest

MarketWatch surveyed 93 readers under age 30 about how they invest , where they get their financial info and how they think about building wealth.

The small survey isn't representative of Gen Z as a whole, but it offers a snapshot of the varied approaches described in this article:

What personal-finance issues do you want to see covered in MarketWatch? We would like to hear about your financial decisions and money-related questions. You can write to us at readerstories@marketwatch.com. A reporter may be in touch to learn more. MarketWatch will not attribute your answers to you by name without your permission.

-Genna Contino

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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