Many of your baby boomer clients are on track for financial independence, but the generation behind them often has problems.
That’s the concern of advisor Beth Blecker. She says most of her clients are saving and investing enough, but she worries about the next generation.
“The children of my clients are often the ones with the biggest issues,” says Blecker, a registered financial analyst in Nanuet, N.Y.
The issues of under-saving and excessive debt are widespread, as recently documented by a new Schwab study. It shows 59% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, 44% have revolving card debts and “struggle to keep up with bills/payments.”
The study also showed that “only 38% have built up an emergency fund to protect themselves from hard times,” according to Schwab. It noted that people saving for retirement are much more likely to reach their goals if they have an advisor. And lots of them need help, according to the nation’s central bank.
A 2018 Federal Reserve report on the economic well-being of households found that 40% of adults, "if faced with an unexpected expense of $400, would either not be able to cover it or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money." Americans often draw upon their retirement savings to deal with unexpected costs, the study found.
How does the advisor change these troubling trends?
“The number one thing is to get these young people to pay themselves first, to automatically put money aside for savings and retirement,” Blecker says.
How?
Blecker says advisors should use something that dazzles tens of millions of Americans, especially young people: technology.