We've Destroyed Millennials' & GenZ's Trust In The System | Kyla Scanlon

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**Kyla Scanlon** (0:30)
I think a lot of younger adults are quite concerned. So if you look at the spring 2025 Harvard Youth Public Opinion poll, it gives a really good sense of what sort of trust that young people have in institutions. And it's basically no trust at all, right? And so when you translate that out to financial metrics, or investing, or speculating perhaps, you really do see that trust begin to show up in the behaviors, right? So like gambling on meme coins, gambling on meme stocks, sports gambling itself.

**Adam Taggart** (1:08)
Welcome to Thoughtful Money. I'm its founder and your host, Adam Taggart. I spent a lot of time on this channel talking with seasoned investors with decades of experience, the vast majority of whom are older than I, oftentimes by several decades, but I'm no spring chicken. And I find myself more and more wondering how younger generations look at the world of finance and the economy, especially with the daunting challenges they face. Inflation and the high cost of living, extreme wealth inequality, record high housing and affordability, AI's threat of mass jobs destruction, 37 trillion in national debt and growing. How are they feeling about stepping into the financial world that they're inheriting? Is our education system teaching them financial literacy any better than the total failure it had with us? And where are they getting their financial information from? To find out, we've got the pleasure of speaking today with author, economic commentator, and educator Kyla Scanlon, one of the top zillennial financial influencers. She's widely followed across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, X, and Substack. Kyla, thanks so much for joining us today.

**Kyla Scanlon** (2:15)
Yeah, thanks for having me.

**Adam Taggart** (2:16)
Hey, it is such a treat. I've been really looking forward to this. I very much appreciate the fact that you came on the program here, Kyla. I wasn't sure you wanted to come on an old guy's platform here since you've got such a big one yourself, but I'm very impressed with what you're doing, what you've been able to do at such a young age, and the fact that you are finding a way to engage younger generations on these financial topics that I and a lot of my peers talk about. We have a hard time tapping into that younger generation, and obviously, I've got a lot of white in my beard.
I don't think I'm the kind of guy that a lot of younger folks relate to, and it's a topic that a lot of people don't really get engaged on until they have wealth to be concerned about, but somehow, you've been able to kind of crack that code for the younger generation, and that's where this information is most needed. So first, before we dive into this, again, I just want to praise you for what you've been able to do.

**Kyla Scanlon** (3:15)
Thank you. Yeah, it's been really fun.

**Adam Taggart** (3:18)
Well, all right. Well, look, maybe we can even talk a little shop and you can share with me some of what you've learned along here. But I do want to get a sense too from your financial viewpoint, how you're seeing the economy and the markets and whatnot. But if we can, let's start with that question that I asked right there in the intro. How did today's younger adults feel about the world they're inheriting financially speaking?

**Kyla Scanlon** (3:43)
I think a lot of younger adults are quite concerned. If you look at the spring 2025 Harvard Youth Public Opinion poll, it gives a really good sense of what trust that young people have in institutions. It's basically no trust at all.
When you translate that out to like financial metrics or investing or speculating perhaps, you really do see that trust begin to show up in the behaviors. Gambling on meme coins, gambling on meme stocks, sports gambling itself. I think a lot of people are aware of the power of the stock market that's been instilled in a lot of young people from a young age, the power of compound interest. But instead of maybe buying the S&P and letting that do the work over the next 40 years, they're taking these alternative routes that are bigger bets on bigger things and trying to make money that way. There's this element of financial nihilism that was coined by the New York Times a few years ago. I think that's what we really do see in financial lives for young people.