Broke Boys Rising

A few weeks ago, I was catching up with a friend when they asked if I could visit them soon. After they dismissed a number of excuses, I admitted that I needed to save money for a while. They responded bluntly, saying I should have started with that, and continued our conversation in a different direction. I wondered why I had felt the need to conjure up reasons not to travel when I had a perfectly legitimate one available.

The Cost of Keeping Up

The cost of living is up, and pay has not followed; everything is more expensive, leaving most people with limited money for nonessential expenses. Many of us are hyperaware that wages and job benefits largely determine how much a person can put toward leisure. Being candid about when you can afford things is a level of honesty that builds trust. Instead of inventing an excuse about why you can’t make plans with a friend and manufacturing an ill-fated situation, clear communication about your financial reality is entering the mainstream as a more productive alternative.

Saying “I Can’t Afford That”

While I may be late to the party, others within Gen Z are becoming more comfortable saying, “I can’t afford that,” discussing salaries, and rejecting plans that strain their budgets. Financial transparency has the potential to make friendships more equitable, but it also risks exposing you to a new form of judgment.

Gen Z’s median income ranges from $29,000 to $51,000. While not every member of Gen Z has entered adulthood or begun working full-time, the majority of those who do work don’t have the income for big vacations or consistent weekends out. Of course, some Gen Zers earn more than the median, sometimes far more.

When Money Shapes Friendship

Passing on plans with friends because of financial concerns is completely reasonable. Doing so repeatedly, however, without communicating the primary reason risks making you appear uninterested in spending time with someone. This is where transparency can lead to more equitable friendships. Knowing that the main barrier to going out is financial, well-off friends may offer to pay for a round of drinks or cover dinner on occasion. It may also lead friends to reconsider a destination wedding or globe-trotting adventure that could push people into exploitative credit card debt, opting instead for something more feasible. For those who are more financially comfortable and care about their friends, being able to actually be present with one another can be priceless.

The Myth of Meritocracy

Still, revealing financial differences can lead to judgment from others and from yourself. This may be due, in part, to two of America’s oldest pieces of propaganda: the Protestant work ethic and the belief that we exist within a meritocratic system. Protestantism has underpinned American society since its beginnings as a collection of English colonies, but the biggest takeaway from the Protestant work ethic is that hard work is a virtue and that those who work hard will find success.

This belief, coupled with the idea that we live in a meritocracy, a system in which advancement is based on individual ability, leads us to associate monetary success with moral choices and hard work. Someone with wealth is considered virtuous and deserving of what they have. Therefore, not having much money supposedly means you don’t work hard enough and don’t deserve success. Those without higher incomes may believe they aren’t doing enough and don’t deserve to have things they enjoy in life. This one-two punch can lead to self-judgment when someone isn’t successful monetarily or to disparaging judgments of others when their lower salaries are revealed.

Of course, it is becoming increasingly apparent that building wealth beyond a few million dollars does not come purely from hard work. Billionaire-level monetary success is built through the exploitation of labor and natural resources. Even securing high-wage work can feel like a lottery based on which AI résumé parser you can pass or whether someone in your network can get you a referral. Despite evidence that future success is strongly shaped by socioeconomic background and the place where someone grows up, the myth of meritocracy has created a correlation between respectability and earnings.

Talent and hard work are not enough to guarantee a reasonable standard of living in today’s society. But when we’ve been conditioned to associate both with monetary success, we can make the mistake of assuming that a lack of financial ability reflects a lack of talent or an inadequate level of hard work. This ultimately leads to hesitation around being financially transparent and subconscious judgment when others are transparent with us.

From Transparency to Solidarity

As Gen Z becomes more comfortable discussing financial status, however, this belief is slowly dissipating from the mainstream. Through an understanding that survival and advancement within our system are based largely on factors outside of our control, the most recent generation to enter the workforce is discovering that the benefits of financial transparency can outweigh its drawbacks. This type of financial solidarity has the potential to build class consciousness within a generation capable of creating a more egalitarian future, both within our own friend groups and beyond.