With every generation comes a new skill set, as well as values, morals, and other ways to try and live the American Dream.
The 1970s for instance were a heck of a lot different than the age of the Baby Boomers, the GenXers, and so on.
Today’s Millennials are making their own mark on society whether it’s with politics or personal investing.
Considered to be the “Me Generation” many are living up to the old saying of “putting their money where their mouth is.”
Here are some examples as suggested by the web site Wisebread.com:
1.Cash over Coupons
Many Millennials are substituting their savings with cash back deals through their bank and grocery Apps, like Ibotta, Checkout 51, and SavingStar instead of coupon-cutting to save a few bucks here and there.
If you’re not aware of the cash back service, it’s the opposite of the upfront savings that coupons provide. Instead, these rebate providers pay out the consumer on the back-end, after the shopping trip is finished, Wisebread.com says.
SavingStar, for instance, offers deals from popular grocery brands such as Cheerios, Yoplait, Dove, and more. For some chains, it will link deals directly to a shoppers’ loyalty card. For other stores, shoppers can submit a picture of their receipt through the App or web site. In either case, shoppers earn cash back into their SavingStar accounts, which can be paid out to a bank or PayPal account or as gift cards from Starbucks, iTunes, etc., Wisebread.com says.
2.Investing Reinvented
A growing number of Millennials are forcing the investment industry to rethink long-held strategies, maybe out of necessity.
For example, as the generation with the largest student debt and not so bright future, traditional investing is not popular. Rather Millennials are relying on micro-investing — investing small amounts of money frequently — to accomplish their savings goals, Wisebread.com says.
Micro-investing lets would-be investors with little starting capital bypass the roadblocks that keep them out of the game — minimum investment levels, trading costs, market research, and not having a much money, Wisebread.com says. There are a number of Apps that are changing this though, and opening the doors for Millennials to create their own investment portfolios.
3.Bank Visits Decline for Those Under 35
While your mom or dad may still visit the local bank for a withdrawal, most Millennials don’t; instead they opt for the simple act of mobile banking that coincides with their much too-busy-to -visit-the-local-bank lifestyle.
According to a recent study, 75 percent of Millennials are at least somewhat reliant on a mobile banking App to interact with their bank for tasks such as depositing or sending checks, etc., Wisebread.com says.
Many experts feel mobile depositing is one of the best inventions of the 21st century and most millenials will agree!
4.The Monetization of Ideas
The days of pushing product to turn a profit is so yesteryear. Millennials’ intellectual property is their mainstay — and they’re quite protective of it.
According to Wisebread.com: “The increasing monetization of ideas is one trend Millennials are driving, which doesn’t look to be slowing down anytime soon.” explains Monica Mizzi, editor of LegalTemplates.net, a website that equips people with the tools to be their own legal advocates. “The boom in startup culture can be largely attributed to the throng of Millennials who are taking the plunge to make their ‘one in a million’ idea come to life.”
Other studies report a growing number of Millennials are bypassing the traditional employment route to try entrepreneurship. With this has come an increasing interest in using nondisclosure agreements to protect their business ideas, Wisebread.com says.
5.Instant Financial Transactions Now Common
Like most of us, Millennials want their money, now and they mean now.
Thank goodness for domestic instant transaction services that have become commonplace for this demographic, Venmo and PayPal are good examples.
6.Digital Currency Offers Real Value
Digital, or crypto currency as it was once known, went mainstream with the success of Bitcoin — a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency (according to Wikipedia). What’s it mean to the rest of us? Its cyber money that you can spend wherever cyber money is accepted, which is a real thing today, Wisebread.com says.
Bitcoin is only one form of digital currency; others have popped up, relevant in their own rights. Steem, for example, users of new Social Network Steemit (which looks a like Reddit), get paid for posting and curating content. And it’s become super popular. After launching in May, Steemit has nearly 120,000 registered users and posts nearly 1,000,000 unique visitors per month. They’ve also paid out more than $4,000,000 in rewards to users to date, Wisebread.com says.
While digital currency is still young despite these successes, expect to see more on the horizon. Will the bitcoins of the world ever replace real money or credit cards? Only time will tell as we continue to move into new areas within the financial industry.
