Top 3 Millennial Money Woes

Do you ever feel like people are constantly saying what you should be doing, without actually telling you how to do it? Same. I bet your clients feel the same way. That’s why I love our Feed the Pig campaign – it’s more like a best friend giving a subtle nudge in the right direction, instead of the typical guilt trip.

To get a better idea of exactly how millennials feel about their finances, we hit the streets to ask the hard-hitting questions that most prefer not to discuss. In doing this, our hope is to help others feel more comfortable discussing their own finances, and provide resources to reach their financial goals.

Here are a few millennial money woes we’ve come across while filming, along with strategies you can share with your clients to help guide them back to the path toward financial success.

Saving for Retirement. For most young adults, retirement seems far away, but, as you probably know, the more you save NOW, the more you’ll have in the bank LATER. We asked people at what age they think they should start saving for retirement, and the answers varied – most saying sometime in their 20’s. Most encouragingly, almost everyone agreed that you need to start as soon as you can.

However, saving for retirement is easier said than done. To really get someone motivated, it’s often easier to help them visualize what their future looks like, whether through a retirement savings calculator, or a fun game like Yesterday’s Tomorrow.

Investing. For our next question, we asked people to show us the face they make when they think of the stock market…and let’s just say, it wasn’t pretty.

Many millennials think investing is a far-off fantasy reserved for the rich. But, there are a variety of ways to invest that people don’t often think of (an employer-sponsored retirement plan is one of them), and it’s a surprisingly attainable goal.

Budgeting. One of the most basic steps in personal finance management is setting limits. We asked people if they set a weekend spending limit, and the overall response was mixed. And we get it – having more money in the bank is great – but that doesn’t make it any easier to turn down fun plans when an opportunity presents itself.

This is where visualization can come into play again. Ask your client what their life goals are and what they look like. For instance, maybe they want to buy a house: Where is it? What does it look like? What kind of lifestyle do they have with that house? The more they can picture what they want and really understand what it will take to attain it, the more motivated they’ll be to stick to their financial plan.

What other tips do you have for connecting with young adults about money? How was your money management in your early twenties? Let us know in the comments!

For more “man on the street” interviews and information about managing personal finances, check out feedthepig.org and follow Benjamin.Bankes on Instagram!

Samantha Delgado, Manager – Communications, PR & Corporate Responsibility, Association of International Certified Professional Accountants

Millennial Finances courtesy of Shutterstock

Top 3 Millennial Money Woes

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