My Financial Musings...Move from ABC investing by learning your XYZ thinking

Baby boomers are now a minority in the workforce and that is changing our world.  The rules of investing are being rewritten from concepts such as Web 3 & blockchain, the role of fossil fuels as well as renewables in the transition toward a net zero world and how the corporate world is responding to greater demands from both consumers and investors to the shift toward a more sustainable economy.  

To understand and respond intelligently to this change, an understanding of how generations Y and Z engage is informative.

Generation Z, broadly defined as those born 1995 - 2010, have a lot to teach us about how to think about the world and where the next investment opportunities are.  Gen Z is now the fastest emerging generation of employees, consumers, and trendsetters.

Generation Y, born 1977-1994, also known as Millennials as they came of age in the early 2000’s, are predominantly the children of Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964).   Hence Millennials either embraced their parent’s inherent competitive bent, or rebelled against it, leading to the uncharitable acronym “ Snowflake”  generation, perceived as easily offended and lacking resilience. In fact Gen Y or Millennials are now over 35% of the workforce, by far the largest cohort of workers and consumers.   Post Covid, many are demanding greater flexibility in their working lives, with implications for how we live, work and bring up families.

Gen Z differ from Millennials as Gen Z are generally the children of Gen X, born 1965-1976, themselves defined by early days of computing, adapting to a life of portfolio careers with all the inherent uncertainly that can bring.   Gen Z are digitally native, are passionate about climate change, take racial and gender diversity as a given, are engaged consumers and financially aware.

Our way of life, how we engage and our investment strategies, are unrecognisable from the Big Bang Baby Boomer outlook.  And that precipitates a change of approach.

Source: https://www.getsmarter.com/blog/career-advice/know-your-generationals

Source: https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-are-the-core-characteristics-of-generation-z