Advisers Have Opportunities to Reach Generations Saving for Retirement

When older generations, particularly Baby Boomers, hear the term “retirement plan,” it likely conjures up visions of long-term strategy, spreadsheets, and precise calculations; however, a  study from Principal found that this is largely not the case for Millennials, who are more likely to associate the term “retirement plan” with saving money.

According to the research paper, “Filling the financial knowledge gap for all generations,” 57% of Millennials think a retirement plan is simply putting money away. Another 14% define it as “saving a certain amount” and 10% say it involves general steps that need to be taken in order to retire one day.

None of these definitions involve strategy, ordered steps, long- or short-term goals, or specific target numbers, Principal notes. Essentially 81% of Millennials are shooting in the dark toward a large but mostly theoretical target called “retirement.”

Principal says there is a big opportunity here for financial planning professionals when a large segment of a sizeable generation knows they should be heading toward a goal but have no idea how to get there. This also presents opportunities for employers to design employee training around company retirement plans where even basic training on personal finances would be of great value to employees, particularly Millennial employees.

The study found Millennials use professional financial advisers less frequently than Boomers, but they are much more open to discussing personal finances with them. Two-thirds (67%) of Millennials say they are comfortable discussing personal finances with a financial adviser compared to 59% of Boomers. This trend of openness increases even more sharply with other groups, with 68% of Millennials saying they are comfortable discussing personal finances with parents, compared to only 35% of Boomers. In addition, while only 26% of Boomers say they are comfortable discussing their personal finances with close riends, 51% of Millennials are comfortable with this.

Principal says Millennials’ lack of participation in the financial services industry is not due to disinterest, but instead due to their misperceptions toward the industry and untapped opportunity on the part of both the industry as a whole and individual professionals themselves. The fact that Millennials are so open is an invitation to the financial services industry to meet them where they are and start financial discussions pertinent to their life stage and level of knowledge.

The study found that Boomers, Gen Xers, and Millennials have the same top three areas where they feel they lack the most knowledge or education. Top on the list for all three generations is how to choose smart investments. This is the area that 19% of both Boomers and Gen Xers and 16% of Millennials list as what they know the least about.

The next topic where people feel they lack knowledge and understanding is how to branch out into less traditional investments such as commodities, real estate, private equity, etc. Fifteen percent of both Boomers and Gen Xers and 13% of Millennials put this at the top of their list.

Gen Xers feel the strongest about how to prepare for retirement, with 16% citing this as the area where they lack the most knowledge. Fifteen percent of Boomers and 12% of Millennials agree.

And last on the list, but still a top area of concern, is how to structure a portfolio. This is the topic that 13% of Boomers, 11% of Gen Xers, and 12% of Millennials feel to be the one that they lack the most knowledge or education about.