Credit where it's due

Gen Z thinks 'marrying rich' is the easy option in an insecure economy - but trust me, pleads Helen Kirwan-Taylor, it's not

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On 30 April 2024, an American comedy creator called Girl on Couch (or Megan Boni as the 28-year-old is known in real life) uploaded a video to TikTok.

Speaking directly to the camera, she spoke the lyrics, “I’m looking for a man in finance, trust fund, 6’5, blue eyes, finance...” before moving into techno electronic beats. Cut to summer 2025, and Boni now has a record deal with three labels. The song has been seen in millions of videos and remixed by various famous artists, including French DJ David Guetta.

Flash mobs of male dancers routinely perform to the beat on TikTok, wearing the trademark banker gilets, and hundreds of spin-off videos depict women wanting to be “spoiled” by finance bros.

Boni didn't put bankers on the map: they've been in the public's psyche for some time (at least since the Eighties). We all saw the movie Wall Street and The Big Short. Before the crash of 2008, bankers held a mythical place in our minds. Young men barely out of college could walk into the Salomon Brothers investment bank and earn millions within a year.