Many Americans – led by Generation Z investors – have taken on debt to invest in the pandemic stock market boom after young investors were hamstrung by the second recession in their lifetimes and prime earning years, according to a study by personal finance site MagnifyMoney. About 4 in 10 investors say they have taken on debt to invest, including 80% of Gen Zers and 60% of millennials, according to a recent survey from MagnifyMoney. Their elders were significantly less likely to do so, with just 28% of Gen Xers and 9% of baby boomers reporting the same. The survey was conducted from March 30 to April 6, polling 2,046 U.S. consumers. This comes at a time when headlines from Reddit to Twitter are ablaze with excitement for everything from cryptocurrencies to meme stocks to non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. That has left some younger investors feeling like they're missing out on making easy money after seeing their friends, family and even strangers on social media post about the hefty profits they've made trading. But low levels of financial knowledge coupled with taking on debt threaten to leave these Americans at risk of losing more money than they can spare when markets turn volatile or crash, financial experts say. That's especially true for assets like cryptocurrencies, which can see wild swings within a day or even minutes.