Women are fueling a resurgence in millennial household incomes
Posted On March 5, 2019
We all know the economic issues with which the millennial generation has been saddled. We’ve all heard the stories of millennials moving back in with their parents and struggling to make ends meet while paying off exorbitant student loans. But there is good news: According to the Pew Research Center, incomes are rising and millennial households now earn more than young adult households of any generation in the last 50 years. The median income for a millennial household in 2017 was $69,000, less than $10,000 lower than the typical Baby Boomer household (just over $77,000). Generation X households, enjoying their… Read More
Categories: Blog, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth, Women, Work
Millennials finding it tough to bounce back from Great Recession
Posted On June 16, 2018
We grouse about their participation trophies and helicopter parenting. We stereotype them as overly entitled and self-absorbed. We laugh about their reactions to pop culture standards from before they were born. But instead of mocking millennials, we should perhaps be worried about them. A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St.Louis found that many millennials have never gotten over the Great Recession of the late 2000s. The study found that the net worth of a typical family whose head was born in the 1980s, the front edge of the millennial generation, was 34 percent below expectations, and lost… Read More
Categories: Blog, Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials, Wealth
Demystifying your paycheck: Who FICA is and why he’s taking your money
Posted On June 6, 2018
During an NBA career that spanned two decades, Shaquille O’Neal made more money per season than most of us will ever see in our lives. But when he got his first paycheck, he had a revelation with which most of us can relate: “Who the hell is FICA?” he famously asked. “When I meet him, I’m going to punch him in the face.” Michael Roe had a similar revelation, visiting his manager’s office after receiving his first paycheck to complain about being shortchanged. The experience inspired Roe to educate himself about personal finance and ultimately to create The Financial Millennial… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Podcast, Wealth
With Baby Boomers in Golden Years, ‘gray divorces’ are on the rise
Posted On April 2, 2018
As America’s Baby Boomers settle into retirement, it’s time for them to finally reap the rewards of their decades of hard work, take that trip they’ve been putting off, sleep in while the working world is racing itself to the office, enjoy spoiling the grandkids. And, increasingly, to get a divorce. According to the Pew Research Center, divorce among couples 50 and older doubled in the 25 years from 1990 to 2015, from 5 per 1,000 to 10 per 1,000, and tripled among couples 65 and older to 6 per 1,000. While that’s still only about half the rate of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Wealth
Who argues over money the most? (Spoiler: It’s not the kids, and it’s not the grandparents)
Posted On March 24, 2018
They are in their prime earning years, old enough to have moved into management positions but young enough to not be staring directly at retirement just yet. And yet, perhaps moreso than any other generation, Gen-Xers are stressed about money. In a story initially published by LearnVest, Forbes contributor Julia Chang cited a CompareCards poll that found more Gen X couples argue about money than Baby Boomers or millennials. Twenty percent of the Gen-X couples surveyed in the poll said they’d sparred over finances within the last month, compared to 17 percent of millennials and only 9 percent of Baby… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation X, Wealth
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
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
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
Boomers: One Generation, Two Different Animals
Posted On September 20, 2017
They say you can never stop learning. If you’re a financial adviser, you should strive to prove that theory. One of the important things we need to keep re-learning is how different generations prefer to handle their money — or even different subsets within the same generation. Many advisers, for instance, may think they know all there is to know about Baby Boomer clients. Many advisers are Baby Boomers themselves. But there are important differences to consider even within the Baby Boomer generation. While many leading boomers, born from 1946 to ’55, are already retired, trailing boomers who were born… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Financial Services, Wealth
Is it Stuff? Or Heirlooms? Not sure…
Posted On June 2, 2017
Gen-Xers and millennials have things easier than our Baby Boomer parents and grandparents in so many ways. We have grown up with technology and are comfortable with it. We’ve had advances in medicine that have made us healthier. We pay our bills online, buy our groceries with a piece of plastic and carry portable computers in our pockets, a world of information just a click away. One thing that has become more difficult over the years, however, is deciding what to do with our parents’ possessions when they pass away. While treasured heirlooms such as china, silver and antiques have… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Generations, Matures, Wealth