Economic commentator Kyla Scanlon is noticing a potentially worrying trend in the investing outlook among younger generations.

“It’s a bifurcated world,” she told CNBC’s “ETF Edge” this week. 

Scanlon, 26, who rose to prominence through her social media videos on the market and economy, explained why some members of Generation Z are aggressively saving for milestones like retirement, while others are taking a far more lax approach. 

“You do have these people who are maxing out their 401(k)s. They’re doing everything they can to plan for retirement,” she said. “But then you have the other side, which is an element to financial nihilism, where people don’t want to save for retirement. They don’t want to save money in general because they don’t believe the future is there.”

Scanlon is aiming to bridge Gen Z’s divided financial attitudes with her new book, “In This Economy? How Money and Markets Really Work.”

“Financial education is always going to be an uphill battle, just because money is such a personal subject. But it’s important that we give people the tools that they need to start somewhere,” she said.

She points to the housing market as a prime example of where young people are falling behind. Gen Zers represented just 3% of total home buyers in 2023, according to a recent report from the National Association of Realtors — a statistic Scanlon attributes to higher interest rates.

“The younger generation definitely wants [homeownership], because there’s a lot of financial benefit to having equity,” she said. “People are just trying to figure out how to do that financially right now, considering where mortgage rates are, considering where home prices have been. It’s difficult.”

Disclaimer

More than 360,000 people left California in 2021, in what some are calling the “California exodus” — and many of them left for states like Texas, Arizona and Washington.

An increasing number of former Californians are migrating out of the country entirely and instead heading south of the border. Many are looking for a more relaxing and affordable lifestyle in Mexico.

California consistently ranks high as one of the most expensive states in the country to live in. The average asking price for a California home is about $797,470 — only 25% of the state’s households can afford it in the last quarter of 2021.

California’s population growth has been declining for more than 30 years now. But thanks to the increase in remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these trends have accelerated. The ability to work anywhere makes 62% of Americans consider moving to a new country.

However, there are some setbacks. Many critics argue that Americans are raising the cost of housing for local residents and driving them out of the market.

Watch the video to learn more about the impact of this migration trend.