In this weeks issue of "The Economist" magazine, there is an article that deals with the marketing of products to the generation of people currently in their 20s affectionately dubbed, "Generation Y." The main marketing focus is on college students and there is a disturbing afterthought in the last paragraph of the article titled "The boomers' babies."
How to make financial products appealing to the savers of the future
"Facebook, iPods and blogs: anyone with children at university should recognise the accoutrements. Young adults may baffle their parents, but they are a growing marketing opportunity for financial firms. As baby-boomers retire, people now in their 20s will become increasingly importnat to an industry looking for a new source of customers (The Economist, August 11, 2007 p. 68)."
"It may seem early, but the retirement-planning industry cannot afford to overlook them either. Today's young will have to fend for themselves more than earlier generations did, given the demise of defined-benefit pension plans. For now, people in their 20s account for about 12% of the participants in 401(k) plans, with about 2% of total assets. The less money their againg parents put away, the greater the industry's incentive to woo them (The Economist, August 11, 2007 p.68)."
We have all been warned countless times these past four or five years. For the current 20 year olds in the United States, there is no security in our retirements. Social Security is projected to run out and the idea of privatized retirment funds will become a reality. The problem is that companies are using this generation to market their products and we are ALL eating them up. In turn, we are eating ourselves financially. If we do not buckle down for ourselves and begin to save for retirement, we may be the ones depending on foreign aid in order to survive. We are a generation facing economic doom and we will all be saddled with debt to boot. Do not be fooled by the mythology, we MUST learn to think less like consumers, and more like savers. If we do not, we may find ourselves in a world of hurt. I want to know what people think about this.
2 comments:
I am afraid that we are that generation Y, having to start retirement plan as early as possbile even in our 30s. That splendid maxim,'Boys, be ambitious!' sounds so hollow when young people are obliged to worry about their aging pension. Pension which does not guarantee any security. This phenomenon will magnify as globalzed capitalism spreads.
I fully agree.
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