Trampoline, not a free ride.
Posted On August 31, 2015
Many millennials, like their Gen-X parents and Baby Boomer grandparents before them, are ready to jump right out into the world and get on their own once they leave college. In our culture of independence, there may be a certain social stigma attached to those who continue living with Mom and Dad after they’re finished with school. CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans, author of Smart is the New Rich: Money Guide for Millennials, suggests in a recent video for USA TODAY that it’s not a bad idea for newly graduated millennials to live at home for a couple of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Generation Y / Millennials
What’s Motivating Millennials?
Posted On August 25, 2015
Do you know what’s motivating your millennial employees? Research presented earlier this year by venture capitalist Mary Meeker, and shared by the Huffington Post, indicates that many managers don’t. In studies cited by Meeker, nearly half the managers believe the most important indicator of success for millennials is high pay. All other factors paled in comparison, with none registering higher than 12 percent. But when millennials were asked how they define success, only 27 percent said money was most important. Most of those surveyed, 30 percent, said meaningful work was their top factor, while 24 percent said it was a… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials, Workplace
The “Convenience” Generation(s).
Posted On August 20, 2015
A recent article on millennials at salesforce.com referred to them as the Convenience Generation. Perhaps it’s just me – and it wasn’t the apparent intent of the author — but that moniker seems to have a negative connotation, like millennials can’t be bothered to drive to a store, make a telephone call or get off the couch to change the channel. It’s not an inaccurate characterization, but why is convenience so important to them? Perhaps it’s because they’ve never lived without it. Technology has grown to a point to where we don’t have to go to a store to make… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
Because betting on Social Security is like standing on 15 when the house has an ace showing.
Posted On July 30, 2015
The Government Accountability Office’s 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances has revealed a rather frightening statistic: About half the U.S. population age 55 or older has no retirement savings. The GAO report found that 48 percent of households age 55 or older have some retirement savings; 23 percent have a defined benefit plan – which typically provides a monthly payment for life — but no retirement savings; and 29 percent have no defined benefit plan or retirement savings. What will that 29 percent live on? It’s likely that they’re counting on Social Security, which is a major gamble. About half of… Read More
Categories: Baby Boomers, Retirement
Are you saving enough?
Posted On July 28, 2015
Are you saving as much as you should be for retirement? If you’re a typical American – and particularly a typical American millennial – probably not. A recent study on retirement saving and spending by T. Rowe Price found that millennials are saving an average of only 8 percent of their salary for retirement, just over half the recommended 15 percent. In light of this, the Fiscal Times offered strategies for millennials to increase that figure. Most of them are common-sense things that apply to people of all ages – cutting costs, budgeting and prioritizing expenses – though many millennials… Read More
Categories: Financial Services, Generation Y / Millennials
“Tell me again how good we have it, Dad?”
Posted On July 21, 2015
If you feel like you’re making more but have less, you might be Generation X. According to this report from Stony Brook assistant professor of finance Noah Smith, writing for Bloomberg View, the Pew Charitable Trusts tracked Generation X households like mine and found that we typically make about $12,000 more than our parents at the same age, adjusting for inflation and household size. That’s the good news. Now for the bad: Less than half the Gen Xers in every income bracket are wealthier than their parents at the same age. Part of that, of course, is that we’re spending… Read More
Categories: Education, Financial Services, Generation X, Work
“Millennials are not looking for perfect people…Jesus already handled that.”
Posted On July 14, 2015
How do you keep millennials in your church? You certainly can’t be afraid of change – and change is not something with which religion has been historically comfortable. This is an entity, after all, that hasn’t changed its mission statement in 2,000 years. But while the mission by definition won’t change, it never hurts to update best practices. As churchleaders.com’s Frank Powell notes, attracting a new generation that’s 80 million strong should be a priority for any institution that wishes to remain relevant. If the church hopes to do that, “that’s the way it’s always been done” has to go… Read More
Categories: church, Generation Y / Millennials
Millennials are shopping. In stores!
Posted On July 8, 2015
They should be the online shopping generation. With millennials’ digital upbringing, one would think they’d never need to step foot inside something as outdated as an actual store. Or worse, a mall. One might be surprised, then, to learn that 82 percent of the Millennials surveyed in global market research by Accenture actually prefer shopping in stores, like the Baby Boomers and Generation X before them. Internet shopping outlets, after all, still have not devised a way to try on clothes online. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, 38 percent of the customers at King of Prussia – the Philadelphia area’s… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials
The Modern Family 80/20 Rule
Posted On July 7, 2015
July Investment Advisor column on the changing family and its importance to financial advisors: http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/06/29/the-modern-family-80-20-rule
Categories: Uncategorized
The Way to a Millennial’s Heart
Posted On June 11, 2015
What’s the way to a millennial’s heart? Is it through hashtags, rock bands, gourmet coffee and tablet giveaways? Some churches these days seem to think so, trying to project themselves as “hip” in order to draw millennials back to organized religion. They’ve eschewed more traditional church services in favor of slickly produced, high-tech gatherings with trendy names and logos and an emphasis on style over substance. Blogger and author Rachel Held Evans believes they’re missing the point, and that’s what has them missing the mark on their goal of attracting a younger audience. Nearly 60 percent of people ages 18… Read More
Categories: Generation Y / Millennials