Don't stereotype millennials, especially when it comes to finances

Whatever stereotypes you might have about millennials, toss them. They’re not youngsters anymore and many have reached middle age at this point. With middle age come responsibility and the need to consider finances and savings for the future.

A new survey from Natixis, interviewing 8,559 investors in 24 countries, shows that millennials, for example, while being digital natives, don’t solely rely on digital financial products. In fact, 46% are turning to actual financial professionals versus eight percent looking for automated advice. Thirty percent rely on both.

More than half (51%) of high net-worth millennials say they are interested in financial planning services. In fact, 34% of those surveyed list financial planning with their family as one of the most important facets of their relationship with a professional.

Beyond a comprehensive plan, millennials want direct help with managing their assets. Four in ten say help with navigating volatility (40%) is an important part of their advisory relationship. The same number also say it is important to get investments that match their personal values, while 37% want their advisor to help them with tax issues.

Interestingly, millennials have faith in their financial professionals with a whopping 88% of them saying they trust their financial professionals with making financial decisions and only 24% trust social media when making those same decisions.

It’s a cliché that the older we get the less risk we are interested in but cliché’s come from somewhere. As expected millennials appear to be “risk-on.” In fact, two-thirds (66%) go so far as to say they’re comfortable taking risk in order to get ahead.

However there are two sides to this coin. Millennials are much more worried about risk than they let on. In fact, more millennials are focused on risk management (48%) when selecting investments than even a fund’s ability to beat the benchmarks (26%).

Millennials have also been known for their desire to make a change or impact on world crises. It appears, however, that does not clash with financial growth. The survey shows that millennials see their wealth as an extension of their values. Almost eight in ten (78%) consider investing a way of making an impact. Another six in ten (63%) say they have a responsibility to help fix societal issues through their investments. Eight in ten also believe companies also have those responsibilities.

If companies fail to live up to that responsibility, millennials are ready to take action. More than half (56%) say they believe the best way to send a message to a company is to sell its stock. Four in ten (43%) say they have actually sold an investment because of a company’s poor performance on environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG).

As millennials think about retirement (it’s closer than it used to be), they are putting away 17.1% of annual income towards retirement savings. And high net worth millennials are doing even more by saving 21.6% of income on average. It’s no wonder that 70% of millennials are confident they will be financially secure in retirement.

Despite the confidence, millennials share some genuine insecurities about what the future may look like. Even as they expect to retire early, two-thirds (66%) of millennials readily accept that they may have to work longer than they plan.

The report says that millennials, unsurprisingly, face the same challenges as the rest of us but are navigating them slightly differently. They are digital natives who still value personal contact and trust but with more emphasis on online trading and taking risk. The report concludes: “[As] they see a future that’s more complicated by new responsibilities, new opportunities, and a new financial realty, they are setting a new standard for investing.”