Last week we asked our Advisor community, “According to West Midland Family Center, Gen Xers views on money are which of the following?” Here are the results:
32% said Buy Now, Pay Later
18% said Pay Cash
21% said Save, Save, Save
29% said Earn to Spend
EPI Vice President, Scott Snider, provides a deeper look into this trivia:
Generation X is all about efficiencies and savings. So of course, the answer to this question is “save, save, save”. When studying exit planning you need to pair it with a study of the generations. If the exit planning advisor understands more about each generation, they could focus their exit planning messaging to each type of business owner.
For example, I am a millennial. Generally we earn to spend. I am a financial planner’s nightmare. We also love life experiences. We are the people who instead of entering the workforce after college, took a year off and backpacked across Europe. I had a buddy from New York City who owned an amazing marketing agency. One day he said, “hey man I am going off the grid.” I said, “How? Why?” He said he needed to find purpose. So, he sold his company, for way less than he should have, and spent two years in Asia.
None the less, I could certainly use a bit more personal financial planning as a millennial business owner. Understanding the spending habits or the generation’s opinions on money allow us to better work with business owners. Owners across the generations believe in and value different things. Regardless, when studied, all scream exit planning in different ways. For GenXers, we can secure their financial future by implementing a holistic planning approach.
