My Marketing Strategy
Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder
Yesterday in my post, Good News or Bad News? Boomers will have to work longer, I discussed the Boomers and the effect that the economy is having on their spending habits. With the outcome being that most will have to work longer, I was left wondering for my clients if this will end up having a positive or negative impact on the financial services industry? I think it will have a positive impact and here’s why:
During a family vacation trip, my brother-in-law who is a cardiologist in Denver, was talking about still trying to sell their second home in the mountains. While things were still going well a couple years ago, he and my sister-in-law decided to upgrade and put money down on a slightly larger second home, thinking they could easily sell their current one. The good news was the developer had hit the skids and was really slow in building the new vacation home, especially with no nibbles on their current one. His comments turned to changing his retirement plans and pushing those out several years. He even mentioned working part-time for a while even after retiring.
Comments like these from an affluent couple, a doctor and nurse, who are still both employed, reflect the now common shift of lower Boomer expectations.
In an article on The Street.com by Jason Notte, Rich Boomers Pinch Pennies: Product Placement, he said, “According to a report released by Nielsen, aging baby boomers, declining birth rates and the shrinking labor force are going to send the numbers of wealthy Americans into a literal death spiral. The moneyed class fears they will have to work until they die, while the people who market to this generation are at a loss.”
The good news is that Boomers are going to work longer and credit unions have always been “the working man’s financial institution.” The aging Boomers will be more concerned about making the most of their money, again a perfect match for credit unions.
The mood of the Boomers, one of forced conservatism, may be the best thing for credit unions to capitalize on! And, staying the course with Gen X is important as well, but there has to be a focus on being relevant to Gen Y. That’s a strategy topic for another post though.