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4 Surprising Financial Facts About Millennial and Gen Z Employees

4 Surprising Financial Facts About Millennial and Gen Z Employees

by | Jan 25, 2023 | Blog

4 surprising financial facts about millennial and gen Z employees. Your Millennial and gen Z employees are struggling with unique financial issues. Here are 4 things to know about the youngest members of your team.

Millennial and Gen Z employees struggle with unique financial issues and are turning to employers for help. A recent, in-depth survey conducted by Prudential Financial found that many employees in the younger generations are seeking additional financial assistance in order to bring stability to their lives.

Here are 4  surprising financial facts about Millennial and Gen Z employees.

1. Many millennials find their salaries insufficient and turn to outside income to support their costs of living.

According to the same Prudential study, millennials and Gen Z were more likely than Gen X or baby boomers to turn to gig work, take on debt, or receive monetary support from family to meet their financial goals. In addition, one-third of millennials and 46% of Gen Z have switched employers since the start of the pandemic, compared to 29% of all workers. Many of these workers believed that changing employers every few years was the best way to increase their earning potential. When searching for new jobs, younger generations often sought out more flexible ways of working and more financial support from their employers. 

Financial wellness tools can provide employees with a snapshot of their current situation, including how much they are spending, how much they are saving, and what debts they may have. This can help employees identify areas where they may be able to improve their financial health.

2. Millennials often do not have emergency savings.

Fifty percent of all survey respondents had less than $500 or no emergency savings fund and nearly 4 in 10 respondents reported they are not on track to meet their long-term goals. The survey also found that more than half of all respondents believed that the pandemic had a negative impact on their long-term financial security. Over half of millennials said that debt prevented them from accomplishing personal goals, like owning a home and starting a family.

According to a 2021 study from the Federal Reserve, families with increased financial literacy had more savings on average and were better equipped to handle unexpected expenses.

3. Student loan debt for many millennials negatively impacts their mental health.

Almost one third of respondents said student loan debt was a barrier to accomplishing their personal goals. Offering financial wellness tools can help your own employees develop strategies to improve their own economic well-being. A 2019 study from ADP, the most recent data available, found that almost 90% of employers and employees believe that financial wellness, including student loan debt management, is important to overall well being. The study also found that 8 in 10 employees believe that companies should “take an interest in the financial well being of their workers.”

4. Millennial and Gen Z workers look to their employer for support in times of financial need.

Almost 60% of Gen Z and millennial workers believe their employer has a responsibility to help them feel more financially empowered. 29% of millennials who switched jobs in the last year took a pay cut, with over a quarter of millennials attributing the change to wanting to achieve a better work/life balance.

Financial stress can have negative impacts on mental health and may affect employees’ work performance. With financial wellness programs, employers can support their millennial and Gen Z workers to help mitigate concerns. Budgeting, savings and debt management tools simplify common money problems and help employees reach their financial goals.

Luckily, employers see improved employee outcomes by addressing financial stress head on. According to a Bank of America study, 84% of employers say that offering financial wellness tools helped increase employee retention. 

Provide the unique support that millennial and Gen Z employees need by offering financial wellness tools from Best Money Moves.

If you are looking for a financial wellness program that can alleviate some employee stress, try Best Money Moves!

Best Money Moves is a financial wellness solution designed to help dial down employees’ most top-of-mind financial stresses. As a comprehensive financial wellbeing solution, Best Money Moves offers 1:1 money coaching, budgeting tools and other resources to improve employee financial wellbeing, regardless of one’s income level and background. Our AI platform, with a human-centered design, is easy to use and fit for employees of any age and financial background. 

Whether it be college planning or securing a mortgage, Best Money Moves can guide employees through the most difficult financial times and topics. Our dedicated resources, partner offerings and 700+ article library make Best Money Moves a leading benefit in bettering employee financial wellness.

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

To learn more about Best Money Moves Financial Wellness Platform, let’s schedule a call. Contact us and we’ll reach out to you soon.

Millennial Employees’ Lifestyles Depend on Side Hustle

Millennial Employees’ Lifestyles Depend on Side Hustle

by | Jul 5, 2018 | Blog

A recent survey from Bankrate shows that Millennial employees are increasingly taking on side hustles to save money and keep up with rising living costs.

It turns out that having one job doesn’t always make ends meet.

Millennial employees across America are taking on second jobs — more commonly called “side hustles” — to pay their regular bills each month, according to the latest research.

Nearly four in ten Americans have a side hustle, and they earn about $700 a month on average from these second jobs, according to a recent survey from Bankrate. But for Millennials, the numbers are even higher. More than half of Millennial employees are partaking in the gig economy, reaping extra income from their efforts, according to the survey.

Kathy Kristof, an award-winning financial writer who runs the site $ideHusl, said taking on a second job can help people save money and keep up with rising costs. $ideHusl is a website that consolidates information about various opportunities in the gig economy and scores them according to a proprietary rating system. Sample side hustle offerings featured on the side include tutoring and driving gigs as well as opportunities to take care of elderly patients, cook for families, or rent out parts of your home or even its furnishings.

The biggest appeal of a side job, Kristof said, is the money.

“With Millennials, I think a lot of them graduated college with a lot of debt,” Kristof said. “The Millennial generation is also extremely entrepreneurial. They’re looking for various ways that they can work for themselves, either full- or part-time. A side hustle is a good way to start.”

The Bankrate survey found that a majority of respondents considered money earned from side jobs as disposable income, and they work these odd jobs inconsistently. Only 11 percent of respondents indicate that they work their side jobs on a weekly basis.

Deloitte, a professional services network, and Prudential, a financial services company, also recently released surveys that both echoed BankRate’s survey findings as well as revealed other trends about the gig economy, including:

  • Deloitte found that having flexible hours and a better work/life balance were among the top reasons for why people would consider joining the gig economy;
  • On average, the Prudential survey found that gig-only workers earn only about 58 percent as much as traditional full-time employees annually, though the survey acknowledged that gig workers only put in a median of 25 hours per week, compared with a standard 40-hour work week for full-time employees;
  • Fewer than 20 percent of Millennial respondents in the Deloitte survey outright rejected the idea of taking on short-term contracts or freelance work to supplement or replace existing full-time employment;
  • 62 percent of Millennials in the Prudential survey believe it is somewhat or highly likely that over the next 30 years, traditional full-time employment will largely disappear, and freelance jobs will come up in its place;
  • 62 percent of millennials who would consider gig employment cited a need for “increased money/income,” according to the Deloitte survey.

Kristof predicts that the gig economy will continue to grow at a rapid pace, and that America’s workforce will have an increasingly difficult challenge to differentiate between great side hustle opportunities and platforms with exploitive terms and conditions. She encourages anyone looking to get into the game to research different offerings before wasting time or putting assets at risk.

“There are gigs in almost every industry, so look for what you really like to do, because you can find something that you like and something that will pay well, all at the same time,” Kristof advised. “And that’s kind of the ideal, right?”