Millennial Investors Are Ready to Talk

As millennials enter their prime earning years and tackle their vastly expanding financial responsibilities, there are manifold opportunities for firms to introduce their capabilities and engage these younger prospects. Favoring a blend of human contact and regular digital communications, millennials are effectively the first bionic generation of investors. Following initial trust-building meetings and phone calls with their human advisors, millennials favor a much more robust communications menu of digital tools than Generation X or baby boomers.

The study revealed that compared with only 46 percent of Gen Xers and 42 percent of baby boomers, 68 percent of millennials believe a combination of emails, texts and social media updates from their advisor contributes to greater trust. Hungrier for advice and insights than prior generations, millennials prefer their communications to be more frequent, too. An enthusiastic 41 percent want updates on a variety of subjects from their advisor across time periods ranging from daily to biweekly. This contrasts with an anemic 32 percent of Gen Xers and 24 percent of baby boomers.

The silver lining? Financial advisors don’t have to reinvent themselves. Once they understand how millennials view their wealth preferences, they can combine their age and experience with marketing intelligence and data-driven technologies to attract, engage and convert the next great generation of investors.

In a recent article for ThinkAdvisor, Chris Perry, president of global sales, marketing and client solutions for Broadridge, discusses how advisors can reach millennials without reinventing themselves.