Can generations be generalized by their financial tendencies?

When the two youngest generations in the workforce—Gen X, or those born between 1968 and 1979, and millennials, those born between 1980 and 1995—are broken down in surveys by wealth, sharp discrepancies in preference and behavior emerge.

For example, according to a recent study of high-net-worth and millennial investors by New York-based ETF provider Global X, wealthier millennials are more likely to use digital advice providers than other millennial and Gen X investors.

Global X found that millennials with more than $250,000 in investable assets were 136 percent more likely to use robo-advisors and similar applications than others their age.. Global X called this group the “Adrenaline Techies.”

The Adrenaline Techies segment was 125 percent more likely than other survey segments to trade 10 or more times a month, 43 percent more likely to consider using smart-beta products, 38 percent more likely to consider using ETFs in their portfolio and 28 percent more likely to be growing a nest egg.

Adrenaline Techies “need (a) more disciplined investment approach” and often “have a do it yourself mentality,” according to Global X. 

Members of Gen X with more than $500,000 in investable assets were 45 percent less likely to use robo-advisors than the other groups surveyed. These investors were labeled “Knowledgable Xs.”

Knowledgeable Xs were 17 percent more likely than other segments to get information from an advisor, 15 percent more likely to be knowledgeable about ETFs and 12 percent more likely to be knowledgeable about smart beta ETFs.

Knowledgeable Xs “prefer mutual funds, but want features common to ETFs” and are more “likely to be already entrenched with an advisor (or) broker,” Global X said.

Millennials with between $100,000 and $250,000 in net worth, labeled “Builders,” were 30 percent less likely to use a human advisor and 49 percent less likely to seek information from a human advisor than other respondents.

The Builder segment was also less likely to have a plan to save for their children’s education or to have knowledge about smart beta ETFs.

Builders “need greater financial education” and are more likely to have a “high sensitivity to fees,” Global X said. 

The “Cautious Consulters”—Gen X investors with between $100,000 and $500,000 in net worth—were 33 percent more likely to use a human broker or advisor than the survey average and 38 percent more likely to be saving for retirement.

Cautious Consulters were also 55 percent less likely than other segments to treat trading as a hobby and 16 percent less likely to feel comfortable building a portfolio.

Global X said that Cautious Consulters “are focused on long-term investment goals” and “will require extra ‘hand-holding’ in explaining portfolio construction.”

The survey was conducted by ORC, which interviewed 2,250 investors aged 21 to 48 with at least $100,000 in investable assets in the second quarter.