India has the highest millennial (18-35 years of age) population in the world. In India, millennials are 34% (at 440 million) of the country’s total population, shows a Deloitte study titled Trend-setting millennials.
With majority of the youngsters in work force, this presents a huge opportunity for advisers to help millennials save tax and invest for their future goals. Further, the Deloitte study has found that the earnings of millennials is expected to only increase. Wages in Asia are expected to increase by 4.2%, compared to global increase of 2.5%.
The study found that millennials are the chief wage earners accounting for approximately 70% of total household income. However, catering to monthly necessities, utilities, personal grooming eats up a majority of their income. Not surprisingly, saving is not a priority for them. Thus, advisers have a challenging role to play in helping them prioritize their goals and save for future. Here are some ways advisers can tap into this segment.
Setting right expectations
Advisers say the younger generation could have unrealistic expectations due to their need for instant gratification and thus it is important to set the expectations right by having a one-on-one interaction before onboarding them. Many millennials, especially those who have recently started earning, would have the urge to splurge and thus have a short-term investment horizon. Shifali Satsangee of Funds Ve’daa says that advisers need to nudge millennials to think long term. “Most Millennials focus mainly on short term and medium-term goals which pivot around immediate gratification. This is where our role as an adviser comes in by bringing to focus long term goals like retirement planning as well and inculcate long term thinking in them.”
Digital presence
Millennials like to research for products before they buy. It is very likely that they would do some research on investments before they consult you. Thus, it becomes essential to have some presence on the web through (website, blog, social media accounts) so that they get to know you and your services better. There are many advisers in India who get new prospects from being active on social media and populating their blogs through informative personal finance articles. So choose a medium (WhatsApp, Facebook, Quora, LinkedIn, You Tube, Blog, etc.) which you are comfortable with and draw up a plan on how you will curate content which attracts youngsters to save. Warangal- based adviser Shiva Prasad Konduru has acquired many clients through social media. Similarly, popular personal finance blogger Basavaraj Tonagatti gets most of his clients through his blog Basu Nivesh.
Digital transaction
Millennials increasing preference for using internet for buying products has led to a proliferation of e-commerce websites. Thus, they are most likely to have similar expectations when it comes to ease of buying/selling from the financial services industry and advisers. To capitalize on this trend, advisers are upgrading their offerings.
Many advisers are migrating from traditional offline transactions to providing clients with digital transactions by integrating with stock exchange platforms and MF Utility. Also, mobile application has become necessary for advisers to be able to provide the convenience of portfolio viewing/transactions on the go. Allowing clients to transact online not only provides convenience to investors but also helps advisers achieve scale and grow their business by eliminating paperwork. “We have invested in innovative technology solutions by being well-equipped with strong back end infrastructure in the form of a comprehensive wealth management software for in depth reporting and business analytics. We also have provided our clients with a dedicated Wealth-E Desk wherein they have 24/7 online access to their portfolios, which lends an element of transparency and client empowerment. We have recently launched our app so that millennials can access their portfolios anytime and transact on the move,” says Shifali Satsangee.
Handholding
Contrary to popular perception, a 2018 CFA Institute Study found that millennials have limited awareness and interest in robo-advisers. “Because they have grown up in the digital age, we often assume that millennials would find the concept of robo-advisers appealing. In contrast, we see that millennials currently have limited awareness (and use) of robo-advisers. In addition, interest in robo-advisers is limited among millennials. More than one-third of millennials say they have never heard of robo-advisers, even when a definition is provided along with examples of robo-adviser firms and question wording below). Another one-quarter say they have heard of robo-advising but are not very familiar with it. Just 3% say they have used a robo-adviser,” states the survey.
Viral Bhatt of Money Mantra says that though millennials are tech savvy, they are not familiar with investment products. “Although they are tech savvy, millennials don't know about investments. They have come across advertisements of mutual funds on television and internet, but they don’t know how it works. They still need handholding of an adviser,” observes Viral.
Communication
Most youngsters have smartphones and are active on WhatsApp, emails and Skype. Viral says that WhatsApp is the best medium to communicate after they have been onboarded. He says many millennials prefer to meet their adviser personally to understand the nuances of investing. Once they are convinced with the plan and products, they are comfortable executing them online.
It would be a great idea to check with them as to what are their communication preferences. Bengaluru-based online investment firms like Groww and others are using content marketing to engage with millennials. Most of its users are millennials in age group of 25 to 35 years and are working professionals from Tier 2 and 3 cities.
Let us know how you are catering to youngistaan.