The Rogue Wave – Milleneals

If you haven’t noticed the news trending towards generation Y or Millennial, you probably haven’t been keeping up with your favorite underground blog. The trend is gaining force, like a Rogue Wave.

The “Chicken Little’s” of the world are squawking, “The Sky is Falling, The Sky is Falling”, but in reality, this is the smartest generation to ever step foot on Earth. There is no defined date of when this generation starts and ends, but most being born from the early 1980’s to early 2000. They were born with information at their fingertips and technology is second nature.

These grown-up kids surely can’t skin a buck or run a trot line, but they can wage war against the largest corporations in the world with a Shirley Temple in one hand and a smart phone in the other.

If not convinced, millennials will make their mark on society, take a quick look at companies like Google, Facebook and Apple. They are creating a culture, where young workers want live and work. A WSJ article, in 2011, quoted one in five young workers want to work for Google. In the same article, Bank of America saw the steepest drop. The margins have widened since. Times are changing and companies will adapt or be left for another round of government bailouts.

They believe business and governments should do more to address societies greatest challenges: resource scarcity, climate change and income inequality. Business must foster innovative thinking and they gravitate towards companies encouraging creative thinking.

millennials are eager to make a difference and believe success of a business should be measured in more than just financial performance. A focus on improving society is the most important goal a business should seek to achieve.

The baby-boomers, spat fire and brimstone at Gen X, for so long, they just want left alone. “My Way or The Highway” didn’t go over so well. There is a polar disconnect between the baby boomers and millennials. The media are picking up on it and scavenging every resource to learn more about the next generation that will soon be taking over our economic livelihood. I get calls a couple of times a week asking for quotes on this trivial millennial generation.

They are nimble and elastic, adapting well to the ever-changing environment, where they live and work. They are group oriented and would find joy in providing for the good of the group, rather than self-promotion. They pride themselves on enjoying the moment and are taking a look at terms like “Retirement-Optional” and not “Retirement Planning.” The thought is why spend most of your life working towards happiness, when you can be happy now.

A recent study showed, when a group of millennials were asked if they’d rather make $100,000 at a job they did not enjoy or $40,000 in a job they did enjoy, nearly 100% chose the enjoyable career. What does this say about our future? Well, that depends on who you ask. These kids do know how to communicate with their i-phones and silly computers named after fruit. They just do it in a different way.

How will this affect business and government in the near future? Well, it’s everything. This generation is starting to make a big difference, in the way we live and work. Like it or not, it’s happening, now.

The greatest generation (World War II) may have “Walked to school, up hill, in the snow, both ways”, but generation Y, the millennials, are taking a hover board. So, look out flex-capacitor, the great creation of Scientist, Doc Brown, in Back to the Future, because the future is now, and generation Y, the millennials are taking the reigns.

Charles Kochel is a wealth advisor at Yield Wealth. http://www.yieldwealth.com. You can contact Charles with questions or concerns at info@yieldwealth.com.