Insurers must rise to the challenges faced by today’s young people to ensure that they create a financially secure future, an academic report has claimed.
The 34-page report, The Generation Game, a joint publication between investment house BNY Mellon and the University of Oxford’s Said Business School, found that young people need the industry to connect with the “millennial generation” to help them overcome any pension and protection gaps.
The research, carried out on 1,178 people born after 1980, from seven countries including the UK, as well as among global insurance companies, found that there was “virtually no interest in shaping products for millennials, let alone finding out what their needs were”.
When it came to financial advice, 52 per cent of young people surveyed went to their parents, with only 24 per cent of young people going to their banks for help.
It claimed that the few insurers that did try to make an effort to engage with young people to promote life and pensions, found that all efforts were falling on “deaf ears”.
Less than 1 per cent of young people wanted their financial engagement through social media, claiming that attempts to do so were “creepy”.
The research also found that millennials do not believe they will benefit from the same levels of state and employer-sponsored pension income to which their parents are entitled.
According to the study, 53 per cent believe that their own personal savings will now be an essential part of their income for their retirement, whereas only 36 per cent mentioned employer contributions to a national savings scheme, and 31 per cent think it will be the government.
Shayantan Rahman, leader of the research team at Said Business School, said: “Millennials are clear that social media is not a place where they want to make life decisions or be commercially active.”
Some 59 per cent of millennials surveyed believed that products were not being targeted at them.
Mr Rahman added: “They feel so bombarded by advertising that insurers need to adopt shock tactics if they hope to make an impact.”
| Where to get financial help | % of respondents aged 17-21 |
| Parents | 52 |
| Bank | 24 |
| Financial advisers | 16 |
| Friends | 10 |
| Insurers (and insurance agents) | 2.8 (and 2%) |
| Source: The Generation Game report |
Adviser view
Cleona Lira, chartered financial planner for London-based 2plan Wealth Management, said: “I have had younger clients who are very serious about financial planning and open minded, but they are rare.
Most of the people I come across are aged 33 or 34, and above.”
