When it comes to money, millennials are different. Advisors can't approach them as if they were members of older generations and expect the same kind of success they may have enjoyed with older investors.
That's according to a Spectrem Group report, "The Investing Habits of Millennials," which finds that despite the financial challenges their generation is dealing with, they're still optimistic about having enough money for a comfortable retirement.
However, those with under $1 million are worried that they won't be able to retire when they want to.
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That doesn't necessarily mean that they're turning to financial advisors to help them—either with the retirement issue, or with other financial challenges, such as educating their kids.
While about three quarters of wealthy millennials—those with more than $1 million in net worth—use an advisor to some extent, about 40 percent indicate that they're likely to use the services of a robo-advisor in the future.
In addition, the ones with advisors aren't as happy with them as older people are with their own advisors. Perhaps that's why they're so interested in robo-advice.
Millennials who have less than $1 million in net worth are considerably more worried about educating their kids than wealthier people of their own generation. More than half of the former group are concerned about the cost.
When it comes to how their assets are allocated, it varies by wealth. Those with less than $1 million in net worth have about 31 percent of their assets tied up in their principal residence, while 33 percent is in investable assets.
For higher-net-worth millennials, on the other hand, 44 percent of their net worth is in investable assets, while 22 percent is in private business.
When it comes to those investable assets, however, both groups are pretty similar in how they're distributed: primarily in equities, cash, and other liquid assets.
Over the next year, millennials are considering investments of cash reserves, individual stocks, and mutual funds, and about half will put money into international investments.
The wealthiest millennials are looking at ETFs and fixed income (more than a third), while 31 percent of them think gold and other precious metals are the place to be.
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