Just as Millennials (Generation Y) have already transformed various other sectors such as consumer retail, media and technology, by 2038, millennials will become the most important financial generation in America. Hence, the industry should gear up to meet their needs, states Goldman Sachs. Conor Fitzgerald and Sarah Cha of Goldman Sachs point out in their June 24 research report titled: “Millennials – Money Survey” that when Millennials shop, they search for answers in mobile and online communities.
Millennials seek advice from parents
In its latest Money Survey, Goldman Sachs analysts set out to understand how Millennials view, perceive and spend money and what financial products they will be drawn to. According to the survey, Millennials get financial advice from their parents, with nearly 55% of respondents in the age group 18 to 22 preferring to seek advice from their parents:
The survey highlights that Generation Y considers “security” as the keyword they associate with money:
The Money Survey points out that Millennials are less concerned with privacy, especially women:
Underscoring the recent trend, the survey indicated that when shopping, Generation Y searches for answers in mobile and online communities:
The survey also found that when Millennials decide which bank to use, they consider reputation and values as the most important features of their bank:
Prefer to pay down debt
The Goldman Sachs survey also indicated that Generation Y tries to avoid fees at all costs:
Emphasizing their preference to get answers quickly, over half of the respondents to the survey indicated that they won’t spend more than an hour getting financial advice:
Responding to a query on where they would park their sizable sum of money, most of Millennials prefer to use it to pay down debt:
The Money Survey interestingly points out that Generation Y doesn’t trust the stock market:
Echoing their preference to live online, the Millennials who responded to the Money Survey prefer to consult online sources rather than traditional sources, such as agent referrals, when looking for a place to live:
Showing their preference to own homes, Millennials indicated that it has been delayed for their generation:
As can be deduced from the following chart, Millennials trust new entrants to the payments market, but the incumbents still dominate wallet share in payments:
The Goldman Sachs survey also indicates that Millennials closely watch their finances, with two-thirds of them checking their finances at least once a week:
Interestingly, the Goldman Sachs’ Money Survey points out that Millennials don’t use bitcoin in large numbers, with nearly 51% of the respondents indicating that they never used bitcoin, nor have any plan to use:
