Millennials: Where will they go?

By Sharon Hackenbracht

As I noted previously in my earlier blog entry the life choices that are being made by millennials are significantly influenced by their parents.

While the recession compelled many millennials to live at home with their parents, a recent study projects that millennials – the largest and most diverse generation in history – will create up to 24 million new households in the next ten years. The Chicago Tribune reports that half of adults between the ages of 18 and 34 report that they plan to ask their parents, and even their grandparents, to help them come up with the down payment needed to purchase a home (as cited by www.trulia.com, 2014).

Where will these households be? How will millennials choose to live? And what furnishings will they decide they need? How will their choices differ from those of their parents, and what, if any, influence will their parents still wield on these choices?

 

Understand Millennials by talking to their parents.

Want to understand Millennials? Talk to their parents.

By Sharon Hackenbracht & Elisa Foster

There is an overwhelming amount of research about the Millennial Generation (also known as Generation Y).  And now that they’ve entered adulthood, ranging between the ages of 18 and 34, Millennials are a hot topic among those studying trends in higher education, financial services, workforce development and how young adults are faring in the current economy.  However, getting a sense of the Millennial mindset is tougher than you may think. Depending on who you ask, Millennials are everything from lazy and spoiled to confident and open-minded.

In our work with educational institutions, we’ve learned that a key to understanding Millennials is to look at one of the biggest influencers in their lives: Parents. 

In order to understand the behavior of young adults, it is vital to also understand the behavior of parents who are providing financial and other assistance to their children. The last decade has seen a drastic increase in the number of adults between 18 and 34 who still live at home and rely on financial help from their parents. This not surprising news given that 16% of Millennials are unemployed and they are graduating from college with an average student loan debt of $29,000.

Parents of children who are in high school, college and in their twenties are becoming an increasingly important, though largely untapped, research segment.  Increasingly, many are providing financial support, housing, career guidance, funding for education, health insurance and rent or mortgage payments.  Some parents are even taking their kids to job interviews.

The implication is that if parents are providing support to their children as they become adults, it means that they have a good deal of influence over many aspects of their children’s lives: what kind of car they buy, what college they attend, what kind of bank accounts they hold, how much they are spending on travel and entertainment, etc.

In the course of our research at Melior, we’ve learned that parents often play a major role in such important considerations as what field of study to pursue at college.  For instance, we’ve observed parents debating with their children about whether the child would major in business or liberal arts.  It was apparent through these discussions that parents most often win the debate.

Ultimately, to understand the Millennial Generation, you also have to understand their parents’ perspectives and the dynamics of parent/child relationships that influence behavior and choices.

Are you a Millennial or the parent of a Millennial? Do you think Millennials depend on their parents more than previous generations?  Please share your stories and opinions in the comments section below!

 

Invisible Money?

Bitcoin, an example of invisible money

Bitcoin.org

By Elisa Foster

Invisible customers can now pay with invisible money (a.k.a., digital currency). With the emergence of Bitcoin, consumers have the ability to make transactions from their computer without an intermediate financial institution.  Bitcoin has been getting an incredible amount of attention over the last year and people are starting to wonder how it will affect the financial services industry.  Head over to American Banker for an interesting discussion on Why Banks Should Care About Bitcoin.

Do you have Invisible Customers?

Picture of invisible customers

By Elisa Foster

The Internet has certainly made life easier for consumers and businesses; purchases and transactions can be made from the comfort of one’s home or office.  However, there is a downside to this trend: customers who once had to be physically present and conduct business face-to-face (e.g., at a department store or bank) are rendered virtually invisible by the conveniences of modern technology.  We like to call them “invisible customers.”

In this series of posts, we will explore the impact of invisible customers on retail businesses, service providers and the overall economy.  We will also give some advice to those businesses that want to reach beyond the computer screen, build a relationship and reconnect with their invisible customers.

First, we’d like to figure out which industries are seeing the most growth in their invisible customer market.  At a brainstorming session of Meliorites, we realized that the possibilities are endless.  However, we decided that the banking industry is a great example: over the past several years, we’ve seen a huge push to get bank customers to handle their business online.

Stay tuned for details about our research on this topic.  In the meantime, what industries do you think are seeing an increase of invisible customers?  Is this a good or bad trend?  Feel free to discuss in the comments below!