By Our Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That is the uncomfortable finding in the Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor 2025<\/em>. Among young Kenyans, 43% have borrowed to meet everyday expenses. Another 38% occasionally spend more than their monthly budgets. Rent, food, transport and school fees are among the pressures pushing them towards credit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There is an odd contradiction here. The same generation remains remarkably hopeful about its financial future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among Kenyans aged 20 to 29, 83% have a positive outlook about their finances. Financial satisfaction rose from 34% in 2024 to 45% in 2025, while 42% said they earned more than they did a year earlier. Yet higher earnings have not eliminated the need to borrow for the basics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n More income, apparently, is not the same thing as enough income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nearly a quarter of young respondents, 24%, earn money from multiple sources, while 39% own or part-own a business. For some this is entrepreneurship. For others it is simply arithmetic: another income stream is needed to pay the rent, buy food, meet transport costs or settle school fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Old Mutual’s group head of marketing and communications, Annie Nibishaka, describes the phenomenon as evidence of adaptability, but sees a weakness beneath it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe growth of entrepreneurship and diversified income streams demonstrates strong adaptability. However, this progress needs to be matched by greater financial protection, emergency savings and long-term planning if it is to translate into sustainable financial security,\u201d Nibishaka said. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The word matched<\/em> is doing some work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young Kenyans are finding ways to increase their earnings. They are less successful at building the financial buffers that would make those earnings durable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Credit fills part of the gap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mobile-money loans are the most common source of borrowing, accounting for 39% of credit among respondents. A further 26% have borrowed to buy stock or finance business activities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The distinction matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Borrowing to buy stock may produce future income. Borrowing to buy food merely shifts today’s shortage into tomorrow’s repayment schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is not a small distinction in an economy where consumer prices are still rising. Kenya’s annual inflation rate reached 6.5% in July, up from 6.4% in June, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The savings figures are similarly revealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ninety-seven per cent of young respondents have a savings goal. Starting or expanding a business, investing, paying children’s education costs, buying a home and building an emergency fund all feature among their ambitions. Yet only 36% say their savings could support them for more than three months after losing their income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The aspiration is there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cushion is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retirement is even further away. Only 26% are actively saving for it, while 79% are not confident that their eventual retirement savings will be sufficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is a peculiar form of financial resilience: considerable optimism, several income streams and little certainty about what happens after the next shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there is gambling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n