Stock market losses leave sour taste for millennial investors
Posted On February 19, 2018
Play the stock market, they said. It’ll be fun, they said. According to a recent piece in the New York Times, the recent volatility in the market may have some millennials ready to get off the ride – or at least ask it to slow down. Data shows millennials typically consider themselves cautious investors. The Times cited survey data from Legg Mason showing that only about one-third of them own stocks and more than 80 percent of them consider their investment strategies to be “conservative.” Despite all that, millennials’ expectations may be a little too bullish. The Times cited a… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials
Food & Wine says Gen X may be restaurant industry’s “best hope.”
Posted On February 17, 2018
If you think millennials will be the death of chain restaurants, you may be surprised to hear they and other eateries may have a savior – Generation X. About a month after Business Insider proclaimed last year that millennials were “killing” chain restaurants, Food & Wine magazine cited research from the NPD group showing that Gen-Xers may be “the restaurant industry’s best hope.” According to the study, Gen-Xers make up 23 percent of all restaurant visits. That’s slightly behind Baby Boomers (26 percent) and millennials (25 percent), but Generation X is significantly smaller than both. According to newstrategist.com, Gen-Xers made… Read More
Categories: Generation X
Who’s the best at feeding the piggy bank? You might be surprised.
Posted On January 21, 2018
Quick question: Which generation would you think is doing the best at saving for the future? Baby Boomers? They’re the closest to retirement, and therefore the benefits of saving should be most immediate to them. Generation X? They’re in their peak earning years, and should have the most resources from which to feed the piggy bank. Either would seem to make sense, and either would be wrong. According to a new Discover Bank survey shared on Nasdaq.com and elsewhere, it’s millennials who are doing the best job at saving. In a nation study of over 2,200 people, 81 percent of… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth
Martyrdom is Back in Style – In the Workplace, that is
Posted On January 10, 2018
Want to get away? If you’ve seen its commercials, Southwest Airlines believes the universal answer to that question is “Yes.” But a large segment of Americans aren’t ready for a vacation. The thought of taking paid time off from work makes them feel guilty. They tell themselves they can’t afford to get away from the office, because no one else can fill their role. They feel the need to prove their dedication to the job, to appear indispensable. They’re called work martyrs. Chances are you work with a few. And according to 2016 research from Project Time Off, more than… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Work
Millennial Home Ownership on the Rise
Posted On December 18, 2017
When we discuss the differences between generations, between millennials and Generation X and the Baby Boomers and iGen, it’s important to recognize that some traits or trends that may look like characteristics of a generation are really just characteristics of all people of a certain age. For instance, we may look at millennials and consider them impulsive, and there’s certainly data that would back up that assertion. But really, most all young people are impulsive. And so we have found that Baby Boomers switched jobs at an even greater rate than millennials when they were in their 20s. It’s with… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Home Ownership
Come visit! Well, maybe…
Posted On December 14, 2017
America’s Baby Boomers are at the age where they are either retiring or thinking about retiring. Many of them will move south to Florida – a state that has become known as much for its retirement communities as its beaches and theme parks. Others will go west to Arizona, drawn by the warm, dry climate. Increasingly, however, they are venturing outside their homeland. According to Forbes contributor Alexandra Talty, an increasing number of Americans are retiring abroad. The Social Security Administration sent 100,000 more payments per month overseas this year than it did in 2016 – up to 500,000 from… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement
Are Millennials, online shopping taking a bite out of Black Friday?
Posted On November 29, 2017
Is Black Friday fading? It depends on who you ask. Anecdotal evidence around the country seemed to indicate that the traditional Friday-after-Thanksgiving shopping spree wasn’t as big a free-for-all as in past years, but Forbes cited numbers from the National Retail Federation and Prospect Insights & Analytics that showed turnout to be higher than expected. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported that online spending on Black Friday was a record $5.03 billion, according to Adobe Systems Inc. — up nearly 17 percent over last year. We didn’t even wait for Cyber Monday. The ease of online shopping has taken a bite out of… Read More
Categories: Advertising, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth
Here’s looking at you, kid: Millennials shun classic films
Posted On October 19, 2017
Frankly my dear, millennials don’t give a damn. Not about classic movies, anyway. The New York Post recently cited an FYE.com survey that found that less than 25 percent of millennials surveyed had watched a movie from the 1940s or ‘50s from start to finish. Thirty percent said they’d never watched a black and white movie all the way through. Not Citizen Kane. Not Casablanca. Not It’s a Wonderful Life. Not even Gone With the Wind, which was actually made in color in 1939. What’s more, 20 percent of the millennials surveyed called such classic and/or black and white films… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
The good, the bad, and the … stay tuned!
Posted On October 2, 2017
This week the Federal Reserve released the 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF). The SCF is one of the largest (over 6,000 households were interviewed for the 2016 survey), comprehensive and representative surveys to track patterns of household spending, income, wealth and investment. Conducted every three years since 1989, the SCF provides analysts – including demographics geeks like us – a treasure trove of information. You might have already seen news stories documenting things like educational and geographic differences in income. One of the big questions being asked this time around is whether or not household wealth has recovered to… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation X, Wealth
Get Off My Lawn: Another (Best-Selling) Writer Falls Prey to Millennial Cliche
Posted On September 28, 2017
Another week, another Boomer or Gen Xer writing a column about what’s wrong with millennials. You may recall the Los Angeles Times columnist whose “millennial pledge” drew the ire of younger readers. Or the Birmingham-area judge who vented in an AL.com column about the lack of adversity or sacrifice in millennials’ lives. Ragging on the younger generation seems to be a cottage industry of sorts. Or at least good column fodder. Now, in jumps a bigger fish to this putrid pond. Mitch Albom was already well-known as a longtime Detroit Free Press sports columnist before he gained even greater fame… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Generations