Generational Money Mindsets: Spending, Saving, and Investing

From Gen Z’s side hustles to Boomers’ legacy plans, money means different things to every generation. For

some, it’s freedom, while for others, it’s security, comfort, or survival. And over

the last decade, with the pandemic period having a major impact, the Filipino relationship with money has transformed in different ways. Since 20

15, Acumen has tracked how Filipino generations think, spend, save, and invest. What we’

re now seeing in 2025 through Project Alphabet is not just a change in financial behavior, it’s a complete shift in meaning. Filipinos to

day think about money with far more intentionality, discipline, and long-term focus than ever before. If finances

in 2015 was a source of aspiration and stress for Filipinos, finances in 2025 has come to be defined by something new: Intentionality toward financial stability. Before the p

andemic, many Filipinos, especially the younger generations, viewed money through a day-to-day lens. Budgets were

flexible, purchases were spontaneous, and “future planning” felt like something only older generations worried about. But the pandemic

created a collective awakening. It reminded ever