As a financial adviser, you’ll be used to dealing with clients of a certain age - perhaps people aged 50 or over who have a higher net worth, with one eye on retirement and wanting to make the most of their current earning potential.
But overlooking younger people because of a perceived lack of value is a mistake. Not only is engaging with this demographic a great way to set your business up for the future and maintain a steady pipeline of clients, it also adds value to existing clients who want to make sure their wider family is in a strong financial position.
So how can you make sure you’re offering an attractive, relevant proposition to younger adults and are able to have a meaningful, positive impact on their lives?
Tailor how you communicate
Adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s have grown up in a very different world to those in older age groups.
Millennials - those born between 1981 and 1996 - will have lived their whole adult lives surrounded by digital technology. It therefore follows that they not only expect to engage with brands using digital platforms, but also find it preferable and more convenient.
For example, they’ll probably pull out their smartphone before their wallet or purse to pay for goods and services at a till, or book a meeting with a professional over a video conferencing system such as Zoom, rather than travel to speak with them face to face.
Meanwhile, Generation Z - those born between 1997 and 2021 - are often seen to be not only the most tech-savvy demographic, but also the most environmentally and socially conscious. As a result, they want solutions that make their lives convenient and also reflect their wider moral and ethical values.
With that in mind, it’s really important to tailor how you communicate with different age groups. For example, you could offer Zoom meetings as part of your proposition, or communicate with young adults via email rather than a phone call, so they can pick up tasks and actions at a time that suits them.
According to research by PwC, 59% of Gen Z and 73% of millennials prefer to communicate digitally rather than in person, compared with just 20% of baby boomers. So it’s really important to make this part of your proposition to young adults, so you can offer value and convenience alongside knowledge and expertise.
And if your business has a strong focus on corporate social responsibility, embracing certain practices, values and causes, talk this up as part of your marketing strategy. There’s a clear business case for showcasing your brand in this way. Research by Insights Consulting shows that Gen Z consumers are willing to pay more for those brands that aim to have a positive impact on society or run their business sustainably.
Tailor advice for younger adults
Younger clients will have very different financial needs, priorities and circumstances to older clients - or at the very least, a very different timeframe in which they want to achieve their goals.
Many financial advisers will pride themselves on offering bespoke advice to their clients, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, so it’s important to apply that principle when speaking to younger adults.
What advice can you offer that will help them achieve their short-term goals, while still assisting them to plan for the future? How can you tailor your proposition to make younger adults recognise the need to get professional advice? For example, talking about how you could help them benefit from various tax allowances could resonate more than promoting your inheritance and estate planning services.
Find out what makes these people tick, what drives them and exactly what they want - only then let them know how you can help.
Get more young advisers into your business
According to the Financial Conduct Authority, just 5.7 per cent of retail investment advisers in the UK are aged under 30. That raises questions about how much businesses in the sector know about the unique challenges, needs and objectives of young adults, and how well you’re able to empathise with their circumstances.
Organisations often work best if they’re representative of their community or client base, so training more young people to ensure this demographic is visible to millennial and Gen Z clients could be hugely advantageous, and make your company a much more attractive proposition to these age groups.
Educate and engage younger adults
You can add value to millennial and Gen Z clients by providing useful resources for free, such as topical or educational blog posts, videos, social media posts and infographics.
For example, you could react to recent news developments that affect younger adults and discuss them through this lens, or answer questions that are commonly asked among this age group.
All this could help to establish you as the place for younger adults to turn to if they want to educate themselves and stay informed, as you’ll be speaking directly to them via digital platforms that they use, and showing you understand what matters to them at any given time.
And of course, each blog post can end with a call to action, so readers know straight away who they can speak to if they have any further questions, and can get in touch quickly and easily. That could make a huge difference in driving conversions and attracting more people to your business.
For more insights, tips and advice on how best to engage with different age groups, download our guide - ‘Talkin bout their generation’: The Ultimate Guide to Millennial, Generation X and Baby Boomer Advice.