Meet the Gen Zers maxing out their retirement savings: 'It's no longer chasing money; it's chasing time'

In 2024, Gen Z workers are expected to outnumber baby boomers in the American labor force for the first time. But right now, the workforce's youngest generation, the oldest of whom are 27, is treated as a novelty — with everything from their email signatures to their salary expectations put under the microscope. CNBC Make It explores how Gen Zers are really putting their mark on career advice, office culture and more.

Zhang was 20 years old when she opened her first retirement account, a Roth IRA, after learning about them from personal finance Youtube channels. She maxed it out for two years using money from her savings and summer internships, and when she got a job after college, switched her focus to maxing out her 401(k).

Zhang, now 24, now has six figures stashed across three different retirement funds. (She recently opened a Simplified Employee Pension, or SEP, IRA for her side hustle as a content creator.)

Today's young professionals are prioritizing their golden years like never before: The average Gen Zer starting saving for retirement at age 22, compared with millennials who started at 27, Gen Xers who started at 31, and baby boomers who started at 37. That's according to a January survey of 4,500 U.S. adults from Northwestern Mutual.

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