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When it comes to money, members of the Millennial generation think differently from their parents. The credit counseling firm Consolidated Credit looked at opinion polls touching on the topic of Millennials and finances to compile some stats.
What Millennials Really Think About Money highlights the divide between three generations: both the Baby Boomers and Generation X, in addition to Millennials. Subjects studied included credit cards, banks, whose opinions to trust, working and parenting, and how couples share finances.
Credit cards, prepaid products, and banks
Sixty-three percent of Millennials said they do not have credit cards, and do not want them, compared with only 35% of Baby Boomers. Instead of carrying credit cards, Millennials seem to prefer prepaid cards, which 42% called more convenient than credit cards. Thirty-one percent appreciated the predictable fees of prepaid cards, and 30% said prepaid products generally meet their needs better. (Consolidated Credit pulled these statistics from a Harris Interactive survey.)
Millennials are also suspicious of traditional banks, according to Consolidated Credit’s research. Seventy-one percent of them said they would rather pay a visit to the dentist than listen to a banker. “After witnessing the financial crises and the role the banking industry played in it, Millennials are skeptical when it comes to traditional banking," said company president Gary Herman.
"But that doesn't make their decisions to trust other sources right."Those other sources include pawnshops and payday loan outfits. Forty-three percent of Millennials utilize these problematic places, rather than banks. Only 21% of Baby Boomers said they used pawnshops or payday loans as financial sources.
Families, work, and financesstu
On the subject of families, work, and other personal subjects, other key points included:
- 35% of Millennials care about having a job with a “positive social impact,” compared with 19% of workers over age 35.
- 30% of Millennials merged their bank accounts before getting married, compared with 12% of Baby Boomers
- 51% trust the advice of their Facebook friends over TV commercials (36%) online ads (24%) magazine ads (14%), and even their real-life friends and family (45%)
- Although 92% of people across all generations said that childrearing brings them a lot of happiness, 34% of Millennials don’t want to stay home with their kids. Only 21% of Gen X and 18% of Boomers felt that way.
