Jed Simpfendorfer.
Jed Simpfendorfer – Director of Strategy & Partner at T garage
Every morning during my commute, I love to check in on the world and make sure it’s still there. Listening to the radio. Scrolling the news. Checking social media. By the time I arrive, I've allegedly lived through an economic collapse, a housing crisis, three geopolitical flashpoints and a social media apocalypse. Remarkable, really, that I made it to the office at all.
The message is persistent. The world is falling apart, everything is getting worse, and if you’re not worried already, you probably should be.
So, when we sat down to run our mid-year survey into Australian consumer sentiment, I was genuinely curious. I’d been hearing plenty of noise that sentiment was at an all-time low, so we set out to find out, how are Australians actually feeling right now?
Here’s some breaking news for you.
Australia is more hopeful about the future than at any point in the last four years.
Hopefulness has climbed to 70%, the highest level since our cost-of-living meltdown in 2022.
Before I’m accused of being overly optimistic, yes, cost of living remains a genuine and widespread concern. Australians aren’t necessarily feeling wealthier.
But hope? Hope is back.
It struck me that perhaps the media is reporting on Australia’s problems, while Australians are quietly getting on with solving them.
While preparing this year’s report, I became curious about what’s driving this hopefulness and what it means for the different generations.
Gen Z: Australia’s Most Interesting Generation
If you believed the headlines, you’d assume Gen Z were anxious, overwhelmed and struggling. And yes, there is a bit of this going on, we track those things too.
But here’s what impressed me. Gen Z is the most hopeful generation in the study, scoring 7.4 out of 10 for future hopefulness, compared with a national average of 6.8.
One respondent summed it up perfectly: “This is all we’ve known. We’re just making the most of it.”
This generation isn’t pretending life is easy. They’re adapting to the world they’ve inherited, making deliberate trade-offs, gathering information and taking responsibility.
They also carry a different set of vulnerabilities. They’re more connected digitally than any generation before them, yet many still struggle to find genuine connection and guidance in the physical world.
The opportunity isn’t convincing Gen Z to engage. It’s helping them make the jump from digital confidence to real-world confidence.
Millennials: Yes, You Are Doing It the Hardest
I’m officially calling it.
Millennials are Australia’s most stretched generation. They’re dealing with housing affordability, mortgages, young families, career progression and rising living costs, all at the same time. Finding ways to cope with everyday life is more important for the generation than for others (58% of Millennials identified this need as important).
Millennials are the most likely to be chasing promotions, comparing prices, stacking loyalty points and cooking at home. They’re working every angle they can find to stay on top.
The constant need to compare prices isn’t just a tax on money.
It’s a tax on mental bandwidth.
Every comparison. Every loyalty program. Every promotion. Every decision about whether to buy now or wait until next week.
Individually they’re small. Collectively they’re exhausting.
Whilst not being overly optimistic, Millennials are ‘cautiously optimistic ’. In our qualitative research with this generation, they acknowledge that, while times are tough, they do see a path to things getting better in the future.
Reflective of this, what’s important to Millennials right now is focusing on their personal growth, with 55% of Millennials finding this important, vs. the 40% national average.
Gen X: The Quiet Ones Holding Everything Together
Gen X sit in the middle. Of life, of the data, of almost everything.
Gen X might be Australia’s quiet achievers. There is a deep streak of self-reliance in this generation that has served them well, and occasionally costs them.
What really stood out was Gen X's need to feel secure. Financially, personally and institutionally.
In fact, feeling safe and secure was the number one need for this generation, with 69% saying it was important to them.
Perhaps that's not surprising. Gen X have spent years carrying responsibility for everyone around them. They're not looking for excitement. They're looking for certainty.
Interestingly, they also record some of the highest levels of trust in institutions of any generation. For brands, that's a real opportunity. Those that can genuinely deliver reassurance, without the noise or the loyalty gimmicks, have the chance to build something increasingly rare, long-term trust.
Boomers: Connected to Community, But the Community Has Thinned
Boomers are doing alright.
Life satisfaction is steady. Many acknowledge they’ve had a fortunate life. The comparison for Boomers is to their parents, who often struggled to make rent, had fewer opportunities for careers and travel, and faced the general challenge of keeping food on the table.
The opportunity for Boomers isn’t solving their financial problems (although that can be part of it as well).
It’s rebuilding the community around them. Many of the everyday places where community happened almost by accident have quietly disappeared. Boomers are the most likely to feel disconnected from people around them, at 42%, this is more than any other generation.
The local bank branch. The post office. The familiar face who knew your name.
Boomers don’t need another app. They need someone to look them in the eye.
There’s a real opportunity for organisations willing to reconnect with communities in a genuine, human way.
What All Four Generations Have in Common
Four generations. Four very different realities. Four different pressures.
Yet when we asked Australians what actually makes them happy, the answers were remarkably similar. Family, connection, peace of mind, feeling useful and feeling hopeful about tomorrow.
The headlines aren’t wrong because Australia’s problems don’t exist. They’re wrong because they mistake hardship for hopelessness.
As I said at the start, while the media is reporting on Australia’s problems. Australians are quietly getting on with solving them. That’s the Australia our research found.
The brands that will earn the right to grow won’t be the ones shouting the loudest about the problems. They’ll be the ones helping Australians solve them.
If you are interested in learning more about our Culture Cast work, connect with me on LinkedIn to find out more.
Culture Cast June 2026 is a nationally representative survey of 609 weighted Australian adults, conducted via the SaySo panel.