Re-Baseline Your Understanding of Millennials for 2025
Introduction
It seems almost all FinTech investments ($51.9 billion in the first half of 2024; fell from $62.3 billion in H1 2023) are influenced by Millennial habits. I have been researching and writing about this in the past year. Because why not?
- Millennials don’t want to pay higher fees for active investment management. That impacts the adoption of Robo-advisors and the overall cost of operations.
- Millennials care about the impact of their investments, which has spawned new products and companies tracking ESG impact.
- Millennials have struggled to commit to significant capital investments like buying homes – a mainstay for past generations. In fact, there has been a move towards higher spending on experiences rather than material possessions in general.
(You get the gist).
Re-Baseline Understanding of Millennials
Below are examples of what I have covered on this topic in the past year and a half. It will help re-baselining what we know thus far (as of the beginning of 2025).
- Millennial Money Dreams: The New Financial Priorities of Millennials
- It covers broad factors influencing financial decisions – social media, family, education, economic inequality, cost of living, and jobs, among others.
- Why Millennials Love Referrals and Cashbacks: The Psychology Behind the Reward System
- It covers Millennial attraction to sign-up offers, cashback, and referrals. It also delves into digital, the achievement mindset, personalization, and sustainability.
- Global Trends in Millennials and Investing: A Fresh Perspective
- It covers unique global trends across North America, Asia, Europe, and Africa. Trigger warning for readers outside North America: this is the North American impression of trends in other continents.
- Millennials And Their Take on Generational Wealth
- It covers Millennial’s dilemma about utilizing generational wealth, using it to pay off their debts, and using the inherited wealth mindfully.
- Japanese Millennials: Living Through the Lost Decade with Economic Struggles
- Trigger warning for folks reading from Japan. A lot of this might seem inauthentic. I would read it as the North American impression of Japan’s lost decade and its impact on Millennial habits. Some parallels can be drawn with “immigrant millennials” who moved to a different country for better prospects. They often suffered from social isolation, delayed milestones, and economic insecurity.
- Top 7 Financial Products Millennials Are Attracted To
- It covers impact investing (ESG), crypto (obviously), and card-as-a-service, among other things.
- Why Millennials & Gen Z Prefer Robo-Advisors for Investing?
- It covers Robo Advisory and how Millennials have influenced usage and what a hybrid usage looks like (this is from 2023)
More to Come
It is well known that socioeconomic factors that influence the mindset of baby boomers are significantly different from those that mould millennials’ mindsets. Baby boomers, often shaped by their experiences in a more traditional economic landscape, prioritize stability and face-to-face interactions in their financial dealings. In contrast, millennials are tech-savvy and prefer technology-based financial products that offer greater flexibility and convenience, allowing them to manage their wealth through apps and online platforms. This technological affinity influences their spending habits and investment choices, as they gravitate towards startups and innovative practices that disrupt established norms. More to come in 2025.
