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V O L . X X I N O. V I M A R C H 2 3 , 2 0 1 5 34 M illennials are hopeful, want meaningful work, value diversity and are tech savvy. Baby boomers are optimistic, work in teams, are ambitious and tend to be workaholics. So says the American Psychological Association. But the stereotypes for the two groups surrounding money and retire- ment savings aren't so glowing. Boomers, born from 1946 to 1964, hold the wealth, don't care about younger generations and are famous for fumbling with cell phones and other technology, according to Merrill Edge and others. Millennials, also known as Generation Y and born from 1979 to 1996, are coddled, won't wear suits and have so much debt from college and other expenses that it eats through half of their paycheck. Wealth managers acknowledge some of those diff erences, but say key life experiences, particularly the recent reces- sion and down markets, bring the two groups' thinking closer together when it comes to saving money for retirement. " e millennials experienced a signifi cant market drop, and saw their parents and grandparents impacted for a period of time from 2008 and in the early 2000s. ey also were impacted by that," says Kristin Robinson, senior vice president for Fidelity Investments' Women and Young Investors for Personal Investing unit. She is respon- sible for leading the strategy to focus on women and millennial investors, and is based in Smithfi eld, R.I. "So that was in the very formative years for the millennials," she says. "And in their formative years, baby boomers heard about the 1929 Depression and market collapse." Both demographics experienced signifi cant economic trauma at a sensi- tive age. " at impacted how they feel about money," she says, noting both generations may be more conservative than generally thought. Comparing the two groups has another foundation: this year, millenni- als will surpass boomers as the nation's largest living generation, according to a Pew Research Center Study earlier this year citing U.S. Census Bureau popula- tion projections from last December. e numbers show that millennials will number 75.3 million, surpassing the 74.9 million boomers. Generation X, born from 1965 to 1978, will outnumber boomers by 2028. Lax fi nances? e fi nancial crisis from 2008 through most of 2013 took a toll on investors, especially females, according to Fidelity. Some 12% of Gen Y females polled said they are confi dent about assum- ing their own fi nancial responsibility compared to 51% of boomer females, says Robinson. "We are focused on helping with that confi dence gap," says Robinson, noting Fidelity has a pro- gram called " rive" aimed at helping women of all ages with their fi nances. rive includes online information, webinars and sessions at the workplace and at Fidelity's investor centers. e top three reasons millennial women don't feel they can handle their fi nances is they don't have the experience, they haven't done enough fi nancial research and they don't know how to get started. "We help them get started and estab- lish a budget," Robinson says. " ey can invest in the future at the same time they are paying down debt." Still, more than half of millennials already are saving for retirement, she says, with some relying on their parents for advice and others — about one- third — going it alone. According to the recent Fidelity "Five Years Later" study looking at behaviors before and after the recession, 81% of millennials now feel they are more knowledgeable about their fi nances, while 66% of older generations do. Importantly, 55% of mil- lennials feel more confi dent as investors and 64% save more systematically. Only 47% of older generations are more con- fi dent as investors, while 54% say they save more systematically. In terms of retirement preparation and involvement, 82% of millennials said they will have a much harder time achieving fi nancial security then their parent's generation, just a nudge higher than the 80% of boomers who responded similarly to the 15 th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey released last fall. Only 66% of millennials said they are very involved in monitoring and managing their retirement accounts, compared to 72% of boomers. Almost double the number of millennials — 52% — said they prefer to not think about saving until closer to retirement compared to 26% of boomers. e study also found that about a quarter of millennial and boomer work- ers each are not sure how their retirement savings are invested. In Transamerica's calculations, however, boomers, not sur- prisingly, had a heavier mix of stocks and bonds, while millennials had more stocks. "Many millennials began enter- ing the workforce coincident with the Great Recession," Catherine Collinson, president of Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, said when the study was released. "It might be easy to con- clude that their prospects for achieving Gen Ys, boomers cross paths When it comes to retirement investing, the groups may be more alike than not B y L o r i V a l i g r a F O C U S Retirement preparation and involvement S O U R C E : 15th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Compared to my parent's generation, people in my generation will have a much harder time in achieving nancial security I am concerned that when I am ready to retire, Social Security will not be there for me Very involved in monitoriing and managing my retirement savings Do not know as much as I should about retirement investing Could work until age 65 and still not have enough money saved Like more info and advice from my company on how to reach my goals Prefer to rely on outside experts to monitor and manage my plan Prefer not to think about or concern myself with it until closer to retirement N/A N/A N/A N/A Millenials 2009/2010 Millenials 2014 Boomers 2009/2010 Boomers 2014

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