GENERATIONAL WEALTH: Separating Myths for Millenials

“The Millennial” generation refers to the roughly 83 million Americans born from 1980 through 2000.

 

To lend perspective, the baby boomer generation was roughly 67 million strong, born over a similar time period – 1946 to 1965. So, many today are talking about the 83 million Americans who are from 14 to 34 years old in some of the same ways they have about their parents, the 67 million Americans between 50 and 69 years old.

 

Why do I bring this up?

 

Two reasons:

 

First, I don’t read this stuff or bring up these facts because I think they have something to do with how you ought to invest differently in the short term. These demographic shifts make for interesting observations, but they give us nothing in the way of making market predictions.

 

About the only thing we can correctly predict about two million 65 year olds, for example, is how many of them will turn 66. We can’t know when they’ll sell their home, quit their jobs, or start withdrawing their investments. The market only shifts on these trends in what appear to be totally random patterns.

 

Second, and more importantly, there are those who will try to make such predictions anyway and put themselves out there as gurus. Worse, based on their speculations and “guesses” about the future of these two interesting-to-talk-about groups, they will try to sell you various investment products, from highly speculative stock compilations to the very low-risk (and low pay off) guarantees of fixed annuities – and everything in between. Just because they have charts and graphs showing you hold old you are and how old your kids are, doesn’t make them gurus of anything. The information, although interesting, has nothing to do with HOW to invest.

Never has.

Learn more . . .

 

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