Perhaps no generation has felt the brunt of stereotypes heaped upon them more than Millennials: they’re disengaged, overly sensitive to feedback, unmotivated and…you get the idea. According to recent data, however, these assumptions don’t reflect reality.
Myths abound about Millennial savings habits and attitudes toward retirement, too. For plan sponsors and financial professionals, it’s important to dispel these myths to better serve Millennial needs.
There are some who depict retirement as a panacea to the stresses and challenges of everyday life — a carefree time free of the mundane routines of working and yet packed with opportunities to finally pursue travel or other pastimes.
The reality for many, however, comes with mixed emotions and lots of questions… Will I be lonely? Will I develop health problems? Will I have enough money to last a lifetime?
We previously covered a few of the ways women often approach investing differently from their male counterparts. Now, we’re not making claims about “the female investor,” or suggesting innate differences between men and women that cause these divergences —rather, many women’s life circumstances may engender greater risk aversion.
Lower overall earnings, more time spent out of the workforce to care for family members and longer life expectancies may all add up to amplify the sense of risk to women’s retirement savings. That can lead to much more conservative investing and, potentially, missed opportunities.
Financial wellness in retirement isn’t a sure thing, but employers and financial planners are making strides in helping to provide a more secure future through access to retirement plans. Congress backs up these initiatives and supports the goals of National Retirement Security Month held each October.1
The goals are simple. National Retirement Security Month aims to raise awareness of various retirement vehicles, many of which come with numerous tax benefits. Increasing financial literacy and informing individuals on how they may achieve and maintain retirement security throughout their lives is another purpose of the month-long observance.1
Plan advisors and sponsors have a unique opportunity to support the women participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans — and that’s important because it’s long been recognized that men and women tend to approach investing quite differently.
It might not garner the same enthusiasm as Christmas, Halloween or other holidays on the calendar, but the observance of national 401(k) Day® should be cause for celebration. Granted there are no cookies, candy or costumes, but financial professionals and plan sponsors can use the opportunity to increase awareness about the importance of planning for retirement.
Inclusion is a topic of much conversation in leadership circles today — and rightly so. At the same time, it’s important to decipher the signal through the noise. Inclusivity, along with values like diversity and equity, is developed and sustained through the intentional deployment of best practices.
What follows is a collection of a few such practices that are useful not only for financial services leaders, but also those business leaders we serve, including advisors and plan sponsors.
Today’s young adults, including the youngest millennials and older members of Generation Z, are experiencing a first working decade that’s very different from those of generations before them. Among the differences: high levels of educational attainment, significant student debt, a greater proportion of gig work, fluid expectations for their career paths, effects of a global pandemic and a practically unfathomable retirement target date.
