Don’t Understand Millennials and Money? Wait Until Gen Z Shows Up at Your Office

I hope you enjoyed Father’s Day yesterday and took a moment to drink something cold, grill something hot, smoke something slowly and enjoy your favorite outdoor hobby…or hammock.

According to the Center for Generational Kinetics (CGK), most members of Gen Z—the 70 million young Americans born after 1995–don’t remember a time before social media. As a result, the Center said, “they tend to live more of their lives online and via smartphone—interacting with friends and family and making major purchases. This could have profound implications for everything from their relationships and how they learn to virtual reality training and problem-solving,” CGK said.

While today’s teens and tweens run circles around us on the tech front, I’ve had some good laughs watching my boys try to push a lawn mower, change a tire, address an envelope properly or try to read the hands of an old fashioned analog clock. I guess it’s how my dad felt watching me butcher 2x4s on his basement table saw, weedwack my mom’s flowers in the yard, or try to paint over the fresh scratches in my junker car without first using primer or scraping off the old rust.

More to today’s young people than tech addiction

What you may not know about the always-wired generation is that they’re fiercely independent, very entrepreneurial and highly conscious of money, brands and the freedom that technology and a little bit of cash can bring.

What impressed me more was how quickly he and his peers became part of the financial system. Before we left the parking lot, my son and fellow young umps had scribbled their names on the back of their checks, snapped photos with their smartphones, tapped their mobile banking apps and whoosh….the money was instantly in their debit accounts.

The SEC and Better Business Bureau could learn a thing or two from this generation.

When I came home from work the other day, my son was hanging out with a friend from across town….. When I asked the boy if he needed a ride home, the kid politely declined. “Is your mom or dad on the way?” I asked. “Nah,” the kid said. They’re busy at work. Uber’s picking me up.” So he whipped out his phone, tapped the Uber app and said, “Gotta go….he’s right around the corner.”

While many marketers, trade associations, educators and financial professionals are trying to figure out how to remain relevant to Millennials—the roughly 75 million Americans in their 20s and 30s–there’s another cohort coming up the ranks that is even smarter, more tech savvy and more impatient to become independent adults who have little need for conventional banks, brokerage accounts, landline phones, taxis, traditional classroom education or higher education.

Although most Gen Z’ers are still in their teens, CGK reports that 12 percent say they have already started saving for retirement and 35 percent say they plan to start saving in their twenties.

Conclusion