Generation X spent three decades being defined by its own indifference—the “slacker generation,” too disengaged to bother with the culture wars being fought around it. Baby boomers, by contrast, are the generation that actually received the deal the American Dream promised: cheap houses, pensions, and a stock market that mostly went up. By conventional wisdom, neither group was supposed to be the one lying awake at night over money. Now, the generation once famous for not worrying about much is worrying a great deal.

And yet Gen X continues to lag in consumer confidence compared with younger generations, notching a six-month average of about 60 points on the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index—flatlining around its worst reading in five years. The index, drawn from a monthly survey of U.S. households, tracks how Americans view current economic conditions and the outlook ahead, so the size of this generational gap gets refreshed with every release. Baby boomers are feeling even worse, with scores below 50, also their lowest in years. Both generations have been sliding steadily since early 2025. Meanwhile, Gen Z and millennials—the cohorts popularly cast as burned out, doomer-pilled, and priced out of adulthood—have held their confidence roughly steady, at around 100 and 90 points, respectively.

Why the sandwich generation is being squeezed from both ends

Gen X’s anxiety isn’t a mood; it’s structural—and better documented than the Conference Board number alone suggests. Its members are caught between two sets of dependents at the precise age when financial obligations tend to peak. This is the first generation of Americans to hit their 50s while simultaneously managing aging parents’ care and dependent kids’ expenses, at the exact life stage psychologists call the bottom of the U-shaped happiness curve—the well-documented midlife dip in well-being that tends to lift again in later life.

The numbers back up the squeeze: 70% of Gen Xers say they fear running out of money more than they fear death, higher than millennials (66%) or boomers (61%). Nearly half—44%—say they aren’t confident they can save enough for retirement, worse than millennials (35%) or boomers (40%). A 2024 Northwestern Mutual study found Gen X believes it needs $1.56 million to retire comfortably but has saved an average of just $108,600—a $1.45 million gap. And in a CFP Board survey, 95% of Gen Xers said their financial regrets have already cost them real money, with 59% reporting stress and 40% reporting anxiety directly tied to it.

Why baby boomers are wealthy in theory and anxious in practice

It’s not just the sandwich generation struggling. Baby boomers make up 20% of the U.S. population and hold 31% of the country’s wealth, or about $85 trillion in assets, according to Federal Reserve data, but that massive sum isn’t equally distributed among the generation. Pew Research Center found that in 2022, the top 10% of boomer households held 71% of the generation’s wealth, creating a lopsided effect in which a handful can comfortably retire while most have few financial resources for the next chapter of their lives. Nearly one-third of Americans 55 or older have no retirement savings, and of those with savings, about half have less than $100,000 in their accounts, according to a GoBankingRates survey.

For that chunk of older Americans, there’s plenty of reason to worry about making finite financial resources last—a challenge compounded by life spans that keep getting longer. Boomers and the Silent Generation in particular face rising healthcare costs as a result of living longer, and still have to afford groceries on retirement funds alone, according to Morgan Ward, professor of consumer behavior at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.

“When the time horizons are shorter, you’re more sensitive to these swings because you know that you want to be able to access your money,” Ward told Fortune. “You can imagine that if there’s a really negative swing, you don’t have the time to wait for the market to recover.”

An AARP report published in June found home care inflation rose 7.9% over the last five years, nearly double the rate of overall inflation and triple medical inflation, meaning that for many households, the cost of long-term care outpaced income. Nursing home costs, for example, soared 25% between 2019 and 2024, while household income for those over 65 grew 22% over the same period.

Why Gen Z and millennials are unrattled

While older generations may be concerned with making sure their assets can last the course of their lifetime, young people are just beginning their investment journeys, with more than half of Gen Z learning about investing before entering the workforce, compared with 20% of boomers, according to 2024 World Economic Forum survey data. Gen Z and millennials have amassed a record $3.1 trillion in holdings.

Their interest in the stock market comes as buying a house remains out of reach for many, with home prices skyrocketing 235% since January 2000.

“For younger adults who despair about ever being able to buy a home, investing in financial markets can be a great way to save until they can afford one,” Chen Zhao, the head of economics research at Redfin, told Fortune.

Ward explained that despite being unable to attain traditional markers of economic success such as home-buying, Gen Z is able to find financial empowerment elsewhere—not just through investing, but by paving the way for its own careers. The generation of digital natives has a distrust of authority and skepticism toward traditional paths of education, engendering an entrepreneurial spirit, she argued. A Bank of America Institute report published earlier this year found Gen Z is “disproportionately” contributing to a boost in business growth, with Gen Z business applications growing about 66% year-over-year as of June, about the same as millennials, Gen X, and boomers combined.

“You are not completely reliant anymore on a big company hiring you and then you retire in 35 years with a gold watch,” Ward said. “I think people feel a little more self-reliant.”

It doesn’t hurt that more young people are also living at home after college, relieving pressure to make rent or pay for other expenses, Ward added.

Where pessimism remains

That’s not to say younger generations are without economic anxiety. Gen Z’s AI adoption has basically stalled over the last year, with the generation growing more sour on the technology as discourse over its ability to automate entry-level jobs continues. According to an April Gallup poll, Gen Z’s excitement around AI fell 14 percentage points to 22%, and anger toward AI increased nine percentage points to 31%.

Moreover, Gen Z adults looking to buy a home are having to confront the possibility that it may be a fantasy, with 34% of the generation worried they may not ever be able to afford a house, and 31% postponing the purchase because of financial pressures, per Northwestern Mutual’s 2026 Planning & Progress study.

But young people’s confidence—and older generations’ apprehension—about the economy may be completely separate from job prospects and inflation, argued Francesco D’Acunto, a finance professor at Georgetown University. Gen Z has already weathered a pandemic and is grappling with the impact of a war and a technological revolution.

“Precisely because their expectations already start from a relatively pessimistic baseline, additional negative news (such as geopolitical tensions or inflation) tends to move their short-term expectations less,” D’Acunto told Fortune in an email. “In a sense, they have already priced in a difficult future.”

Baby boomers, on the other hand, though faced with their own times of war and economic hardship, entered the housing market in the 1970s, when inflation surged and made home-buying an appealing investment. They reached the financial milestones set for them, meaning that during this period of economic volatility, they’re “more sensitive to bad economic news,” D’Acunto argued.

Gen Z and millennials can certainly feel lousy about the economy, but they may be able to adjust their expectations more easily, knowing for years that they may face uphill battles rather than expecting the economy to work in their favor.

“Gen Z may be more pessimistic overall,” D’Acunto said. “But older generations may be more easily surprised.”

A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on Aug. 7, 2026.