Gen Z vs. boomers: What each generation thinks about long-term investing
Forty-five percent of investors expect stocks to deliver the best risk-adjusted returns over the next 10 years, making equities the top pick for the best long-term investment across every generation, according to The Motley Fool's 2026 Long-Term Investing Survey. Among Gen Z investors, 45% named stocks first. Among baby boomers, 44% did the same.
That's where most of the agreement ends. According to the survey, conducted in March 2026 among 2,000 American adults who currently hold money in stocks, ETFs, index funds, or equity mutual funds, Gen Z investors are nearly four times more likely than baby boomers to name cash as their best long-term asset. Baby boomers are nearly five times more likely to choose diversified funds, such as balanced funds, target-date funds, and multi-asset ETFs. Gen Z trades at least weekly at more than three times the rate of baby boomers.
And as The Motley Fool examines below, the two generations define "investing for the long term" around almost entirely different goals.
Key Points
- 45% of investors favor stocks for the best 10-year returns; preferences vary by age in secondary choices.
- Gen Z is more likely to invest in cash and crypto as long-term assets compared to baby boomers.
- Tech stocks are highly favored across generations, but owning AI stocks varies, with Gen Z leading.
Stocks top the list of best long-term investments across every generation, but second choices tell a different story
Stocks lead across all four generations, but what investors reach for when they don't pick stocks shifts significantly by age.
- Gen Z is nearly four times more likely than baby boomers to name cash as the best 10-year investment. 23% of Gen Z investors said cash and cash equivalents, like high-yield savings accounts, money market funds, and short-term treasuries, would deliver the best risk-adjusted returns over the next decade, compared to just six percent of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. That preference is notable for the generation with the longest investment time horizon available.
- Baby boomers are nearly five times more likely than Gen Z to favor diversified funds. 26% of baby boomers named diversified portfolios and funds, like balanced funds, target-date funds, and multi-asset ETFs, as their best 10-year investment pick, compared to just five percent of Gen Z, according to the 2026 survey. For investors at or near retirement, managed risk through diversified vehicles is consistent with their expected priorities.
- Crypto is a more popular long-term choice among younger investors. 15% of Gen Z named cryptocurrency as their top 10-year asset, compared to eight percent of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. The preference declines steadily with age but remains a meaningful share across all four generations.
Specific stock and sector preferences diverge by generation
When asked which types of stocks respondents currently hold and which sector they expect to produce the highest returns over the next decade, generational differences run deeper than the headline asset-class data suggests.
- Growth stocks dominate portfolios across all ages, but younger investors also hold value stocks at twice the rate of older ones. Sixty-one percent% of Gen Z investors currently hold growth stocks, compared to 48% of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. But 50% of Gen Z also hold value stocks, nearly double the rate of Gen X (33%) and baby boomers (31%). Younger investors appear to maintain broader stock exposure across style categories rather than concentrating in a single approach.
- Dividend stocks are an older-generation priority. Forty-three percent of baby boomers and 39% of Gen X currently hold dividend-paying stocks, compared to 28% of Gen Z and 32% of millennials, according to the 2026 survey. That gap reflects a structural difference in what investors need from their portfolios: income generation becomes a higher priority as retirement approaches. Speculative holdings, such as penny stocks and meme stocks, run in the opposite direction: 16% of Gen Z holds them, vs. four percent of baby boomers.
- Information technology is the top sector pick across every generation, and the preference intensifies with age. Twenty-one percent of Gen Z named information technology the sector most likely to deliver the highest returns over the next 10 years. That figure rises to 28% for Millennials, 33% for Gen X, and 40% for baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. The results make tech the one area where older investors are more bullish than younger ones. Consumer discretionary (15% overall) and communication services (11%) are the next most-cited sectors, with most others in the single digits.
Gen Z stands apart in another way: 28% say value stocks will produce the highest returns over the next decade, compared to 13% of Gen X and 12% of baby boomers. And nearly one in five baby boomers (19%) say they are not sure which equity approach will produce the best returns, compared to just three percent of Gen Z. The generation with the most investing experience is the least certain about equity strategy.
Baby boomers are the most bullish on tech but the least likely to own AI stocks
Forty percent of baby boomers named information technology as the sector most likely to deliver the best returns over the next decade, the highest share of any generation. Yet when it comes to actually owning AI-related stocks for the long term, baby boomers trail every other generation by a wide margin.
- Gen Z is nearly twice as likely as baby boomers to own AI stocks and plan to hold them for at least 10 years. Forty-one percent of Gen Z investors own AI-related stocks and plan to hold for 10 years or more, compared to 23% of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. Among all generations, 37% own AI stocks with a long-term hold horizon.
- More than a third of baby boomers say they do not own AI stocks and will not invest in them. Thirty-four percent of baby boomers said they have no AI stock exposure and no plans to add any, the highest share of any generation and more than three times the rate of Gen Z (10%), according to the 2026 survey. This group largely overlaps with the 40% of baby boomers who named tech as their best sector, suggesting conviction about technology's long-term potential does not automatically translate into AI stock ownership.
- Younger investors are more likely to own AI stocks with a short-term exit plan. Twenty-six percent of Gen Z investors who own AI stocks plan to reduce or exit their position within 10 years, compared to 14% of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. That higher exit-plan rate among younger holders is consistent with Gen Z's more active trading patterns seen elsewhere in the survey.
Gen Z trades weekly while baby boomers rarely touch their portfolios
Seventy-nine percent of all investors describe their approach as buy-and-hold or mostly passive with periodic adjustments, the two most common long-term investing strategies in the survey. That percentage holds steady within a few percentage points across each generation, and is a pattern consistent with data on how many Americans hold stock, which shows that older generations have long held their investments.
The results from respondents' responses on how often they actually trade tell a different story, particularly for the youngest generation.
- Nearly half of Gen Z investors trade at least once a week. Forty-seven percent of Gen Z respondents buy or sell stocks or funds at least weekly, 14% trade daily, 32% trade once a week, compared to 14% of baby boomers who trade at that frequency, according to the 2026 survey. Millennials are also frequent traders. Thirteen percent trade every day, and 27% trade once a week. An investor trading weekly while describing their approach as buy-and-hold or passive investing is doing something closer to active management, whether they frame it that way or not.
- Baby boomers are nearly five times more likely than Gen Z to trade less than once a month. Fifty-eight percent of baby boomers report making trades less than once a month, compared to 12% of Gen Z and 18% of millennials, according to the 2026 survey. Among investors who describe their approach as buy-and-hold, only baby boomers appear to consistently match the trading behavior that label implies.
- Gen Z checks portfolios at more than double the rate of baby boomers. Twenty-nine percent of Gen Z investors review or adjust their investments at least weekly, compared to 11% of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. Fourteen percent of baby boomers review their portfolios rarely or never, more than four times the 3% of Gen Z who say the same. Frequent monitoring can lead to higher rates of reactive decision-making, thereby interrupting long-term compounding.
Risk tolerance also tracks with trading frequency. Fifty-three percent of Gen Z investors describe their risk tolerance as high or very high, compared with 21% among baby boomers.
Patience during volatility is the top challenge for every generation
Staying patient during market volatility is the single biggest challenge for long-term investors across all four generations, according to the 2026 survey, named by 36% of all respondents. The intensity of that challenge and the other pressures investors face differ meaningfully by age.
- The patience challenge grows sharper as investors accumulate more. Forty-six percent of baby boomers named patience during volatility as their top investing challenge, compared with 33% of Gen Z, according to the 2026 survey. A 10% market drop has different consequences at 62 than at 25, both in dollars and in remaining recovery time.
- Timing the market is twice as likely to be a top concern for younger investors. Twenty percent of Gen Z named timing the market as their biggest long-term investing challenge, compared to 9% of baby boomers, according to the 2026 survey. Investors who trade more frequently face more timing decisions — and more opportunities to make the wrong one.
- The more retirement dominates a generation's goals, the narrower its investing purpose becomes. Seventy-one percent of baby boomers have oriented their investing goals around retirement: 45% name retirement savings as their primary goal, and another 26% name retirement income, according to the 2026 survey. For Gen Z, only 34% are retirement-focused; the rest spread goals across wealth building (20%), emergency fund or financial security (12%), saving for a major purchase (8%), and paying off debt (6%).
The average stock market return of more than 10% annually since 1957 rewards long-term holding, but Gen Z investors are running multiple financial timelines simultaneously, which may explain why their behavior appears less patient than their stated strategy suggests.
Young and old investors seek a long-term mindset, but don’t always execute
Across every question in the 2026 survey, a consistent pattern emerges: Younger investors bring higher stated risk tolerance, broader stock exposure, and stronger long-term intentions, but their behavior doesn't always match.
Gen Z trades more, checks their portfolios more, and holds more speculative positions. Those tendencies are not inherently a problem. Higher risk tolerance is appropriate for investors with long time horizons, but frequent trading and reactive monitoring can work against the compounding that makes long-term investing effective in the first place.
Baby boomers’ approach carries its own tension: the strongest conviction about technology's long-term potential, combined with the lowest rates of AI stock ownership and the least certainty about which type equity approach — growth, value, or dividend stocks — will produce results. Experience and confidence do not always point in the same direction.
For investors at any age thinking through a long-term investing strategy, the most durable edge apparent in the survey data is also the simplest: The investors who trade least tend to be the ones who started with the clearest sense of what their money is for.
FAQs
What is the best long-term investment?
Stocks and equities are the most widely cited best long-term investment among investors who participated in The Motley Fool's 2026 Long-Term Investing Survey. Forty-five percent named stocks as the asset class most likely to deliver the best risk-adjusted returns over the next 10 years, making it the top choice across every generation surveyed.
How should you invest for the long term by age?
The key variable is the time horizon. Younger investors with decades ahead can sustain higher equity exposure and more risk, while investors closer to retirement typically shift toward diversified funds, dividend stocks, and capital preservation. The Motley Fool's 2026 survey found that 53% of Gen Z investors describe their risk tolerance as high or very high, compared to 21% of baby boomers.
How often should investors review their portfolios?
Most financial professionals recommend reviewing a portfolio quarterly or annually rather than more frequently. The Motley Fool's 2026 survey found that 29% of Gen Z investors check their portfolios at least weekly, compared to 11% of baby boomers. Frequent portfolio monitoring can lead to higher rates of reactive trading that can reduce long-term returns.
Methodology
The Motley Fool's 2026 Long-Term Investing Survey was conducted via Pollfish in March 2026 among 2,000 American adults who currently hold money in stocks, ETFs, index funds, or equity mutual funds. Results were post-stratified to generate nationally representative data based on age and gender. Pollfish employs organic random device engagement sampling, a method that recruits respondents through a randomized invitation process across various digital platforms. Generational definitions: Gen Z (born 1997-2012), millennials (born 1981-1996), Gen X (born 1965-1980), baby boomers (born 1946-1964).
This story was produced by The Motley Fool and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
