There is at the door a new generation of investors: young people who in ten or twenty years will probably be in possession of more substantial assets. Generation Y A digital generation that has a radically different way of relating and accessing financial information compared to previous investors but which at the same time needs a savings professional to offer advice on more complex issues.
The photograph was traced by Nicola Rocchetti of Gfk Eurisko in a study commissioned byEfpa Italy, European financial planning association, and presented during the last annual meeting held in Genoa on 4 and 5 June.
WHO ARE GENERATION Y?
This is about 13,3 million people born between 1980 and 2004. Twenty-five years of age which at the generational level are divided into 17% of young people up to 17 years of age, 31% who are between 18 and 24 years old and a 52% who reach the age of 34. Generation Y is essentially gender balanced: 51% men and 49% women. Half of it resides in the North, 34% in the South and on the islands and the remaining 20% in the Centre. 85% belong to a "mass market" and residually "affluent" asset class. The reference basis used for the research, which compares generation Y with families, is the "Multifinanziaria Retail Market" survey: a universe of Italian families with heads of families aged between 18 and 74, representing 20,5, 5.000 million households. The research was built on the basis of XNUMX face-to-face interviews carried out with heads of households (financial references) representing all the relevant socio-demographic parameters.
HOW GENERATION Y BEHAVES
In Generation Y, behaviors and patterns of consumption are changing: the habit of carefully checking bank statements and looking for profitable ways to invest money is gaining ground, the habit of spending all the money rather than saving it is losing appeal. Those who then declare "I like spending" decreased by 17,4% compared to 2008. For generation Y, saving remains a priority, especially with a view to "accumulating" to protect themselves from the future and to finance any projects. Even the house is one of the main objectives. When it comes to investment choices, compared to families, generation Y focuses more on the short term and on taxation. However, the priorities remain safety, performance and simplicity.
LESS COMMON FUNDS MORE TECHNOLOGY
What is striking in the type of investment choices is the reduction in managed savings. While from 2001 to 2014 medium-mature fund holders (over 35) rose from 88% to 92%, in the same period of time medium-young fund subscribers (under 34) they decreased from 12% to 8%.
In this scenario, technology is changing the relationship paradigms between supply and demand also in finance. 96% of Generation Y use the internet, compared to 75% of the Baby Boomers generation and 34% of the Senior generation. The gap widens when one analyzes the mobile sector, which is spreading exponentially (from 4% of the total in 2008 to 48% in January 2015) creating a new culture of simplicity. Here 83% of generation Y use mobile phones compared to 44% of baby boomers and 11% of seniors. Finally, 23% of generation Y use social networks for topics related to finance, against 11% of media in Italy.
FOUR NEW PARADIGMS
The study therefore identifies four new paradigms for generation Y:
1) Horizontal relationship in the equal relationship with the bank/savings professional;
2) Proactivity of the offer: the bank/savings professional takes action, reports, suggests;
3) Personalization of the offer: the bank/savings professional speaks to me;
4) Response speed: feedback almost in real time and on the channel chosen by me.
HOW CONSULTING IS CHANGING
If the escape from the agency seems to have stopped, the bank is left with low value-added services (ordinary operations) while the savings professional must focus his attention on value-added consultancy while rethinking his own language. The advantage of the consultant's relational and professional capacity compared to the bank is in fact lower among generation Y: the study indicates that satisfaction (scores 7-8) with the consultant/promoter stands at 56% of users and that with the bank at 55%. On the contrary, in families there is a gap in satisfaction: 56% are satisfied with the bank while more families, 66%, are satisfied with the advisor. At the same time, today's investors, and Generation Y in particular, are more aware of their need for advice and assistance. But the way we interact must change: fewer training courses on financial topics and more web/app services to support finance management. Without underestimating the direct relationship: the physicality of the relationship, which means face-to-face meetings at headquarters or in the bank, matters more than we thought for generation Y who, moreover, is more willing to bear the costs of a consultancy service savings management.
