Thursday, August 21, 2025

Millennials and Gen Xers Shaping the Future of Financial Planning

Fri, 28 August 2020  |  financial planning 

According to a new study from AIG Life & Retirement and the MIT AgeLab, financial clients are expressing a willingness and desire to step beyond traditional conversational boundaries with their financial professionals. This is particularly apparent with younger clients between the ages of 30 and 45 who indicate the most interest in discussing a range of topics beyond money management.

The Future of Client-Advisor Relationships study, which surveyed more than 2,000 financial clients between the ages of 30 and 75, finds that clients’ trust in and satisfaction with their financial pr... Read More

Older Women Face a Financially Uncertain Future

Tue, 25 August 2020  |  women retirement 

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently examined the financial security of older women through a series of 14 focus groups and analysis of prior survey data. Prior GAO work has found that challenges women face during their working years can affect their lifetime earnings and retirement income. In their work the GAO found women were overrepresented in low wage professions, paid less money than their male counterparts during their careers, and were more likely to leave the workforce to care for family members. Taken together, these trends may have significant effects on women's... Read More

Plurality of Voters See No Difference Between Candidates as Best For Personal Finances

Mon, 24 August 2020  |  politics 

The latest Surveys of Consumers from the University of Michigan finds that only the youngest and poorest consumers favored Biden over Trump, as the best Presidential candidate for personal finances. The major finding, however, was that in nearly all subgroups more consumers thought it would make no difference to their personal finances whoever was elected; the exceptions were among the oldest and richest subgroups who gave Trump a slight advantage.

As might be expected, responses followed along party lines with three-fourths (75%) of Republicans favoring Trump as the Best... Read More

Social Security Turns 85

Mon, 24 August 2020  |  social security retirement 

As Social Security celebrates its 85th birthday in August, a recent AARP survey found that a majority of Americans (82%) say they will rely on the program at least somewhat for their retirement income. A large proportion, almost two-fifths (39%) said they will or do rely on Social Security as their primary income source for retirement.

The survey found that Social Security remains incredibly popular, with almost all respondents stating it is an important program compared to other government programs. In fact, over two thirds (68%) indicate it is one of the most important programs.... Read More

Retirement Savers Stay The Course

Thu, 20 August 2020  |  retirement 

Americans continued to save for retirement through defined contribution (DC) plans during the first half of this year despite economic stresses brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ICI’s “Defined Contribution Plan Participants’ Activities, First Half 2020.” The study tracks contributions, withdrawals, and other activity in 401(k) and other DC retirement plans, based on DC plan recordkeeper data covering more than 30 million participant accounts in employer-based DC plans at the end of June 2020. This edition ... Read More

Risk Tolerance Spikes Among Millennial and Gen Z Investors

Wed, 19 August 2020  |  stocks millennials Gen Z 

A new study by E*TRADE Financial Corporation found that risk tolerance among Millennial and Gen Z investors has spiked since the pandemic began. Over half (51%) of Gen Z and Millennial investors say their risk tolerance has increased since the coronavirus outbreak, 23 percentage points higher than the total population.

These younger investors are also moving out of cash and into new investment positions, with about one-third of investors under the age of 34 taking these actions compared to just 19% of the total population.

And they are trading more frequently. Over hal... Read More