What Information Sources Millennials Seek to Improve Their Financial Well-Being
Today, only 41 percent of college attendees report that their formal education taught them good financial management practices. In addition, Millennials (those born between 1980 and 2000) report feeling more stressed about finances than other age groups; that stress makes them more likely to miss work to deal with financial challenges. Because Millennials made up about 40 percent of the U.S. workforce in 2020, employers have tried to address their employees’ concerns by offering more financial information, seminars, and other financial wellness programs. But the majority of Millennial employees assign a low rating to their employers’ financial education efforts. The purpose of the article by Emily Huang, Reka Anna Lassu, and Kenneth K. Chan is twofold: first, to examine where Millennials look for their financial information as they attempt to improve their financial well-being, and second, to recommend ways for financial services firms to better reach this group.
Previous studies show that Millennials seek a variety of financial information sources. They prefer asking parents and family members for information instead of turning to traditional financial tools. And they choose online peer bloggers because bloggers’ advice appears to them to be more genuine. Millennials’ preferences are influenced by the nature of the financial information source’s content, as well as by how well the individual’s and the source’s attributes mesh. Finally, past research indicates that individuals value certain attributes of financial information, including expertise, accessibility, usefulness, trustworthiness, personal nature or tailoring, interestingness (i.e., how exciting and engaging a source is), and whether a source protects their privacy and sensitive information.