Financial advisors should take note of high-income millennials who have surpassed Baby Boomers as the largest living adult generation and are looking for guidance in meeting their financial goals, according to a report by Spectrem Group.
The report, High-Income Millennials, provided insights into how this group invests, defines success in life and views the American Dream. It also looked at how student debt has impacted their finances and investing decisions.
A total of 443 high-income millennials with annual incomes of $100,000 for singles and $150,000 for married or partnered millennials were included. Sixty percent of the respondents were females, and the high-income millennials skew slightly Democrat overall. Further, almost three-quarters are married.
In creating wealth, the report found that high-income millennials place a high priority on hard work (85%), education (80%) and frugality (72%).
When making a career decision, salary (83%) and benefits (69%) are tops for high-income millennials. They also take into consideration personal enjoyment (55%), flexible hour (53%) and location (53%). More than 40% also want the option to work from home and doing something that makes a difference.
Approximately half of high-income millennials are worried about the health of their aging parents; 51% are concerned that they won’t be able to retire when they want to; and more than one-third (37%) are concerned with getting adequate help or advice to allow them to reach their financial goals.
As for finances, half are worried that they will not be able to maintain their current financial position; and 45% are concerned with financing of their children’s education.
While the older generations often define the "American Dream" as owning a home and future generations as having a better economic life than existing generations, the dream for high-income millennials is equal opportunity for everyone, the report noted.
Further, just over half consider being married or being involved in a committed relationship as important; and they indicated that being able to afford the leisure activities they want to pursue is more of a definition of success than raising a family.
The report noted that high-income millennials are using advisors (49%) and 64% of that number seeks help from one advisor, while 25% utilizes two advisors.
What are they looking for from an advisor? Forty-nine percent indicated that they need financial planning and 43% said they want retirement planning advice from their advisors. They want the ability to see all of their accounts in one place (29%), they need help with tax strategies (29%); and they also are looking for budgeting tools (24%) from their advisors.