The sandwich generation, or Generation X, is not a focus for top players in the financial services industry, according to a recent Weber Shandwick report. The public relations firm found that only half of the top U.S. industry players segment their messaging by generation, and those that do focus on baby boomers and millennials. “As a market opportunity, Gen Xers are often overlooked for several reasons: they are sandwiched between two very different and attention-grabbing generations (Boomers and Millennials), have a relatively short generational span (approximately 16 years vs. roughly 20 years for other generations), and represent a smaller share of the population (65 million, vs. 77 million Boomers and 83 million Millennials),” the report said.
Divide and Conquer
Don't run your practice like everyone is the same, writes Kirk Loury, president of Wealth Planning Consulting Inc. in the Journal of Financial Planning Practice Management Blog. Instead, split clients into segments. The most common ones are wealth, generation/age and life stage.
End of Year Resolutions
There is precious little time left in 2014, so now's the time to check with your clients about all those issues they've been putting off and procrastinating on. And there are a lot of them. Davis Janowski of Wealthfront lists 14 of them on Business Insider, including enrolling in a 529 plan, establishing an emergency fund, rebalancing your portfolio, reviewing life insurance policies, maxing out IRA/Roth IRA contributions, rolling over your old 401(k) into an IRA and more.