Why Gen Z Believes Side Hustles Are Key to a Secure Retirement

Despite starting to save earlier than some older generations, members of Generation Z have substantial doubts about ever being able to retire.

Many plan to work beyond retirement age to protect themselves financially. In fact, their financial stress and insecurity about the future are reasons that many Gen Zers take on multiple jobs.

These side hustles as a way of life can help Gen Zers take control of their financial circumstances, now and in the years ahead.

Why does Gen Z believe that side hustles can help them build a secure retirement? Read on to learn more.

Who Is Gen Z?

The Library of Congress defines Generation Z as those who were born between 1997 and 2012. They’ve never lived without the internet and are often referred to as digital natives. They’re 13 through 28 years old, as of 2025.

Financial advisors working with Gen Zers have found that, though overwhelmed financially and by their concern for the economy, many are intent on building a strong financial foundation. At the same time, though, many are spending more now because retirement doesn’t seem to be a viable option.

The Role of Side Hustles

For many Gen Zers, side hustles are necessary to pay off debt, pay current bills, enjoy life now, and save for the future. According to a Lending Tree survey, 55% of Gen Zers have side hustles, and 48% plan to always have at least one.

While inflation, the unsteady state of the economy, stock market volatility, and rising interest rates have also spurred many to get side hustles, concern about retirement drives their efforts as well.

Even though Gen Z investors are essentially at the beginning of their careers, about 44% of them state that they’re already falling behind in saving for retirement. The good news is that they’re trying to catch up.

Side hustlers know that their additional income can help them make ends meet. Once they address those month-to-month expenses, some of that side hustle income can go to saving and investing to enhance what they put away in their workplace retirement plans.

Gen Z’s View of Retirement

The Western & Southern survey found that 39% of Gen Z respondents anticipated that they’d have to work side hustles to make ends meet in retirement.

They were evenly split as to whether they thought they would be able to retire comfortably: 40% felt that they would probably be able to do so, while 41% weren’t confident.

Andrew Crowell, financial advisor and Vice Chairman of Wealth Management at D.A. Davidson, suggested, “Gen-Zers often face several financial concerns when saving for retirement, including rising inflation, high student and other debt, unaffordable housing costs, lack of financial literacy, and fears of Social Security running out before their retirement begins.”

A TIAA report indicates that only 20% of Gen Zers have begun saving for retirement. Many of them simply don’t expect to retire. They’re spending 51% of their monthly incomes on housing alone.

For those who are saving for retirement, 66% are doing so with 401(k)s. Those just entering the workforce increased their saving by 10%.

Yes, they’re pessimistic (and perhaps with good reason). But this doesn’t mean Gen Zers don’t want to plan for retirement.

They believe they must build additional income for savings (despite their existing financial challenges). The side hustle is a light at the end of that tunnel.

Types of Side Hustles

Gen Zers’ most common side hustles may be pet sitting and babysitting. Other side hustles include:

• Making and selling items online
• Caretaking
• Food and grocery deliveries
• Podcasting, blogging, and content creation
• Remote freelancing
• Day trading
• E-commerce resale
• Waiting tables
• Social media influencing
• Tutoring
• Direct sales
• House-sitting
• Ride-sharing
• Industry consulting

How Much Money Will You Need?

For Gen Zers planning for retirement, Western & Southern advises that you’ll need sufficient savings and income to cover the monthly expenses that you consider to be essential to a comfortable lifestyle, plus a little extra in an emergency fund.

Fidelity Investments suggests tackling the challenge incrementally. Try to save at least one time the amount of your income by age 30, three times by age 40, six times by age 50, and eight times by age 60.

Another challenge for Gen Zers: investing according to their beliefs. “There’s a growing interest among Gen-Zers to invest in alignment with their values, whether they’re environmental, social, or otherwise, but limited and often opaque offerings may not exactly match the desired intentions,” Crowell warns.

While your preferred choice of investments may be elusive, income from side hustles at least can help keep your savings growing.

What Is Gen Z to Do?

Louis Brion, founder and CEO of Lakefront Finance, points out that economic conditions aren’t the same for the Gen Z generation as they were for previous generations in terms of cost of living and growth of investments. So they need to be careful about their spending.

“There are more things that are recurring costs in today’s world with the rise of subscription-based models for almost every facet of life,” Brion says.

“This generation now more than ever needs to be aware of how they’re spending their money to make sure they’re saving enough for retirement. While ease of purchase and the rising cost of everything is happening, there are threats to long-term financial security.

“Some non-traditional retirement savings options for this generation to consider would be cutting costs by living with parents or roommates for longer periods,” he suggests.

“If home ownership is out of reach, perhaps staying with family or friends to lower the cost of rent would allow people in this age group to save more aggressively for retirement.”

Time is on your side. Your earnings will have decades to grow if you begin side hustling and tucking those earnings away now in a savings vehicle that will pay decent compounding interest or in another retirement plan.

You might want to consider pet-sitting or babysitting, tutoring, or driving for a ride-share company, something you can do in your off hours that will produce extra income that can go straight to savings.

Other Useful Tips

Crowell has some other suggestions for Gen Zers if their ideal, eventual retirement vista has them reclining on a beach somewhere rather than driving a stranger to their next doctor’s appointment.

1. He mentions auto-investing. “Removing the step of manually moving your money around each month can go a long way in keeping this money out of sight, out of mind, and toward your long-term financial goals.”

2. In addition, consider taxable investment accounts as well as retirement accounts to build your wealth.

“Roth IRAs and other retirement savings accounts have many advantages, such as tax benefits and flexibility, but they do have limited contribution amounts for those who are looking to save even more. Higher-earning Gen-Z individuals may face income limits with a Roth IRA, causing them to consider other savings accounts.”

3. As for simply working longer overall for the income, postponing retirement until age 70 has an advantage.

Your eventual Social Security retirement benefits will increase by up to 1% each month you delay claiming them after you reach your full retirement age. That’s age 67 for Gen Z individuals. Note that your unclaimed benefits stop increasing after age 70.

The Bottom Line

As a Gen Zer, you have somewhere around 40 years remaining until retirement. That gives you a lot of time to plan and maneuver, even if you don’t believe the future looks all that bright.

Along with side hustling, smart planning, and investing now can make retiring more doable than you may think.

Consider touching base with a financial professional if you have questions or concerns about how to save and invest for your retirement years.