Generation Y ”“ a.k.a. the Millennial Generation ”“ is getting a hard-knocks education in the economy and the subsequent need to save.
Largely the babies of the boomers, about 37 percent of those born between 1979 and 1994 are underemployed or have been out of work during the recession, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center.
Sarah Lipkin, who works in marketing at Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union in Kingston, obtained her bachelor”™s degree in 2006 and went on to earn a master”™s of business administration from Pace University in 2009.
“At the time I graduated in 2009, I had just gotten laid off two months before due to the company downsizing and landed at MHV about a year later,” she said. “Being a member of Gen-Y and a recent college graduate myself, I feel my generation is also more politically aware, distrustful of the ”˜big”™ banks and seeking an alternative that we can trust.”
Three of four have a savings account
The Pew Research Center also found 75 percent of the Generation Y demographic report having a savings account and only 49 percent expect Social Security to serve as a means to fund their retirement.
California-based Co-Op Financial Services, a company that services credit unions, said the traditional role of the credit union has been as an encourager of financial literacy since a majority of them operate as member-owned cooperatives.
Simply put, the credit union could serve as a feasible loan and financing option for those who cannot garner loan approvals from larger institutions.
“We”™ve opened a steady stream of youth accounts every month and out of all the promoting we do on all of our different products, this is the one that gets the least amount of promotional dollars,” said Robert Michaud, senior vice president, chief marketing officer at Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union. “We put an educational link on our website that includes a scholarship search and a link to student lending. Both of those programs were clearly communicated and we did a ton of business in that area.”
Generation Y”™ers may now be more apt to educate themselves.
“Generation Y”™s parents ”¦ many are seeing their houses being foreclosed on, many of them are losing their jobs and the instability of the job market is really hitting home,” said Laura Katen, founder of a Harrison-based consultancy that prepares young adults for the workplace. “Especially in New York, where the pricing of everything is so high. Many Y”™ers are trying to get an apartment in the city. Even the cost of food ”¦ it”™s not cheap. Whatever money they have coming in, they”™re paying more attention to.”
Job, finance programs growing
Crops of job and finance programming efforts have sprouted up everywhere.
Nonprofit Domus in Stamford, Conn., received $600,000 from the Trafigura Foundation and a three-year grant of $400,000 from Stamford-based The WorkPlace Inc., to create the Trafigura Work and Learn Business Center.
The goal of the youth employment and education program is to create hands-on business opportunities for young people.
In Westchester, nonprofit Girls Inc. hosted a seminar at Manhattanville College called “A Man is Not a Financial Plan.”
Young women were taught about financial empowerment and had the opportunity to meet with members of the Financial Planning Association of the Greater Hudson Valley.
