According to Spectrem’s Millionaire Corner study Generation X Marks the Spot, investors born between 1965 and 1980 don’t use financial advisors as much as older investors do and they have less satisfaction with the advisors they do use.

Among the Generation X investors who use advisors, only 60 percent reported overall satisfaction with the job the advisor does. That’s in contrast to the 74 percent of Baby Boomers and 76 percent of World War II investors who find satisfaction with their advisor. Sixty-three percent of Generation X investors were satisfied with the knowledge and expertise of their advisor but only 60 percent were satisfied with the recommendations received during the recent recession.

A further sign that Generation X is more than willing to act on their own advice when it comes to financial matters is that 28 percent said they can do a better job of investing than a professional advisor. Only 24 percent of Baby Boomers and World War II investors felt that way.

Generation X investors seem less willing than older investors to put up with investment losses. Asked for reasons they would change advisors, 31 percent said they would change investors because of financial losses over five years, and 28 percent said they would do so because of losses over two years. Baby Boomers and World War II investors were more willing to accept those losses as part of the advisor-investor relationship.

Generation X investors were asked to describe their level of advisor dependency, ranging from self-directed, meaning they make their own investment decisions with the assistance of an investment advisor, all the way to advisor-dependent, meaning they rely on an advisor to make most or all of their investment decisions.

Fifty-five percent of Generation X investors described themselves as “self-directed’’, an indication that there is much work to be done by the financial advisor community to engage Generation X investors. For contrast, only 36 percent of Baby Boomers considered themselves “self-directed” and only 33 percent of World War II investors did so.

 

 

For more information on Generation X investors, click here