According to a recent survey by financial firm Empower, Gen Zers on average believe that an annual salary of $587,797 and a net worth of $9.47 million are necessary when envisioning “financial success.”

Generation Z may not realize it, but such success would propel them into the upper echelons of American wealth.

In fact, earning more than half a million dollars a year would place them in the top 1 percent of earners in 32 of 50 states, separate data shows.

In contrast, older generations have much more modest definitions of financial success. According to the Empower survey, this means Millennials earn $180,865 per year and have a net worth of $5.6 million. For the generation

Generation Z not only has the highest standards, they are also the most confident about achieving them: 71% said they are optimistic about achieving financial success over their lifetime, compared to 70% of Millennials, 53% of the generation X and 45%% of baby boomers.

Of course, your bank account isn’t the only measure of success. Across all generations, just 27% said wealth was the highest measure of success, while 59% cited happiness – defined as “the ability to spend money on the things and experiences that bring the most joy.”

For 35 percent, leisure time, i.e. the luxury of pursuing personal passions, is at the top, and for 35 percent, physical well-being is the most important measure of success.

Empower also found that Americans see the key to success as a combination of hard work, talent, knowing the right people and a little luck. But 19% of Gen Zers and Millennials say the secret to success is “faking it until you make it.”

“Fortune favors the bold and people feel that success is within their grasp with the right combination of dreams and planning,” Rebecca Rickert, communications director at Empower, said in a statement. “It’s about disciplined, smart money decisions, but overall people define financial success as very meritocratic and a little random. You have the feeling that with effort and above-average performance you will go far.”

Other surveys have also suggested that Generation Z is an outlier when it comes to perceptions of what it takes to live comfortably and feel financially secure.

But their formative years were also marked by major economic disruptions such as the pandemic, as well as the highest inflation in more than 40 years, high student debt and a tight real estate market that is accessible to fewer Americans.

This is why separate data shows that Generation Z is suffering from “money dysmorphia” and has begun to lose confidence in their ability to get ahead. That’s why 74% of Millennials and 65% of Generation Z say they will be “further behind financially” in 2023 than previous generations of the same age USA today Harris Poll poll.

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