Key Takeaways
-
Gen Z and Millennials represent a fundamental shift in financial behavior, not just a younger digital audience. They think differently about money, trust, and the role of financial institutions.
-
Financial anxiety is high but engagement is higher. Rising cost-of-living concerns, housing affordability, and economic volatility are top of mind, yet these generations are actively researching, investing, and managing money across nontraditional platforms.
-
Traditional financial institutions risk irrelevance if they fail to adapt. The challenge isn’t access to financial services—it’s whether brands align with how younger consumers want to engage.
-
Personalization must move beyond demographics. Age, income, and life stage are no longer sufficient. Psychographic insights—values, motivations, fears, and goals—drive more meaningful engagement.
-
Gen Z and Millennials seek financial partners, not transactions. They value education, transparency, community, and guidance over one-off product offers.
-
Financial wellness has replaced wealth accumulation as the primary goal. Flexibility, reduced anxiety, work-life balance, and realistic success markers matter more than traditional milestones like homeownership or retirement timelines.
-
Marketing strategies require a strategic reset, not incremental tweaks. Success depends on deep audience understanding, trust-building, and delivering real value beyond product features.
-
Brands that embrace values-based and behavioral segmentation will win loyalty. Those that don’t evolve risk losing relevance with a generation actively rewriting the rules of financial engagement.
The financial services industry is facing a fundamental challenge: the playbook that worked for decades is becoming obsolete. Gen Z and Millennials aren’t just younger versions of previous generations banking with an app on their phones. They represent a fundamental shift in how a new generation is thinking about money, trust, and the role financial institutions play in their lives.
According to our data, 37% of Gen Zers are concerned about wage increases not keeping up with the cost of living in the next six months; 38% of Millennials have the same concern. Also, 30% of Gen Z is worried about not being able to afford housing or a housing market crash in the next six months. 24% of Millennials have this concern.
While these younger generations are the most financially anxious, they’re also one of the most financially engaged. They came of age during the Great Recession, watched their parents struggle, graduated into uncertain job markets, and now face student debt, housing affordability crises, and economic volatility that feels baked into the system.
They’re trading stocks on Robinhood, researching investment strategies on Reddit, learning about retirement planning from YouTube creators, and building side hustles to diversify income streams. The question isn’t whether they care about financial services; it’s whether traditional financial institutions are relevant to how they want to engage with their money. These generations aren’t just looking for financial services, they’re looking for financial partners.
For financial services marketers the opportunity is found in connecting with this generation on the values that matter to them.
Personalization is Key
Financial services marketing has long relied on demographic segmentation, but Gen Z and Millennials resist being put in boxes. They expect personalization that goes beyond using their first name in an email or showing them ads based on their age bracket.
The shift is from demographic targeting to psychographic understanding. For example, a 27-year-old freelance designer in Austin has completely different financial needs, goals, and values than a 27-year-old corporate lawyer in New York, even though traditional marketing would lump them together. One might prioritize flexibility and creative freedom over stability, while the other is laser-focused on paying down debt and building traditional wealth markers.
This is where deeper behavioral and motivational insights become invaluable. When it comes to understanding what drives someone’s financial decisions, their underlying motivations, fears, and aspirations matter more than knowing their income bracket or credit score.
Traditional financial services marketing is transactional. Get the customer to open an account, sign up for a product, or download the app. Gen Z and Millennials are looking for something different. They want to be part of a community that helps them navigate financial complexity.
Financial Wellness Over Wealth Building
Perhaps the most significant shift is in how younger generations define financial success. Previous generations were marketed to with promises of wealth accumulation, retirement security, and achieving major financial milestones like homeownership.
Gen Z and Millennials are more focused on financial wellness: having enough flexibility to live life on their terms, managing anxiety about money, and achieving work-life balance. Many have adjusted their expectations around traditional markers of success, recognizing that the old roadmap may not be realistic or even desirable.
Gen Z and Millennials are more focused on financial wellness, having enough flexibility to live life on their terms, managing anxiety about money, and achieving work-life balance. Many have adjusted their expectations around traditional markers of success, recognizing that the old roadmap may not be realistic or even desirable.
What This Means for Financial Marketers
The implications are clear: marketing financial services to Gen Z and Millennials requires more than tactical adjustments. It demands strategic transformation.
It means investing in deep audience understanding that goes beyond demographics. It means building trust through consistency and transparency rather than through advertising claims. It means creating genuine value through education and community, not just through product features.
Most importantly, it means recognizing that younger generations aren’t a market to be conquered. They’re partners to be engaged. The financial services brands that will thrive aren’t those that figure out how to sell to this generation, but those that figure out how to serve them in ways that align with their values, meet their needs, and respect their intelligence.
The good news? The tools to understand these audiences at a deeper level exist. Psychographic insights, behavioral data, and values-based segmentation can help financial services brands move beyond outdated assumptions and build marketing strategies that actually resonate.
The question is whether traditional institutions are willing to make the changes necessary to earn the trust and business of a generation that’s rewriting the rules of financial engagement. Those that do will find a loyal, engaged customer base. Those that don’t will increasingly find themselves irrelevant.
Ready to transform your Finserv marketing strategy? Schedule a consultation with a Resonate data expert today!
