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The financial advising industry is going through an aging crisis.
According to a July 31 Time article, a mere 5% of financial and investment advisers in America are in their 20s. And in just 10 years, a third of America’s financial advisers will retire, leaving a gaping hole in the industry.
The age gap isn’t just affecting the financial advising industry from the standpoint of the financial advisers themselves, either. It’s also having a significant impact on the people these advisers are supposed to serve.
According to a recent Principal Financial Group poll, just 18% of financial advisers said they target clients from Generation Y, who are now recent college graduates and young professionals. However, 64% of advisers admitted to primarily targeting clients in the Baby Boomer generation — people with high net worths, according to a Des Moines Register article.
While this age gap in the financial advising industry may seem like a generational divide in which professionals in their 50s and 60s refuse to get along with younger people, the situation does have more serious consequences.
According to the Des Moines Register, younger people who don’t have a financial adviser will consequentially be less likely to save money toward retirement, worsening a trend among Americans to not save adequately.