Millennials and Money
Arguably the most significant transition the world faces is a demographic sea change. The Baby Boomers are retiring and the Millennials (born 1981-2000) are taking the baton and running.
This group is the largest North American generation in history, and we’ve talked about their investing and money habits before. Today’s infographic is based on looking at over 100 surveys of Millennials in 2014, and it reveals a great deal about their habits in personal finance.
Probably the most staggering figure, in our opinion, is that Millennials have a different attitude towards debt than previous generations. This is likely a result of growing up through the Financial Crisis, and also seeing their parents and countries take on unprecedented amounts of debt. It turns out that 63% of Millennials do not have a credit card, and do not want one. This is almost twice the amount (35%) of adults over 30 years old. There is other mistrust in the old financial guard, as 71% of Millennials would rather “go to the dentist, than listen to what banks are saying”.
Not surprisingly, some other results: Millennials are willing to spend more to go green than other generations (56% vs. 34%), Millennials want a job that makes a big social impact in contrast to employed people over 35 years old (35% vs. 19%), and Millennials believe social media and word of mouth much more than television, magazine, or online advertisements.
What Millennials want will slowly turn the investing world upside down in many categories. Any service marketed towards this group will likely be profoundly impacted, so it is an area worth watching for investors.
Original graphic from: Consolidated Credit
