How Young Millennials Help Us Redefine Retirement

Each generation building on the last, we move closer and closer to the American Dream.

The American dream is the belief that anyone, regardless of where they were born or what class they were born into, can attain their own version of success in a society in which upward mobility is possible for everyone.

Young Millennials are closer than ever to more intuitively understand the meaning of life. The desire and pursuit to live the life they want are unlike prior generations who put that dream as a hope for a future date, they instead crave to live that life now. 

This leads me to believe that the future of retirement will be more like a color gradient, where one chapter of life will bleed into the next rather than a designated date of exit from the workforce into a life sustained by a nest egg. 

These younger generations ask the right questions and hustle for ways to be happy. They have more resources at their fingertips thanks to the age of digital banking, digital 401k, digital advice, and digital investment tools. What needs more attention from these younger generations, though, is long-term planning with foresight. This is not about retirement, but a layered plan of short-term and long-term goals will always be applicable to creating and living the life you want.

Generations before them understood the necessity of planning because they operated under the memory of calamitous events and deeply understand that there are things for which to prepare. The new generations tend to live by what naturally drives them, so it will be important to layer that instinctive drive by looking beyond 5 years. 

The focus of wealth access is the evolved conversation of retirement. The idea that you save for some unknown future is difficult to plan for. We don’t know if today we will need a special trip to the dentist or if a parent or child will need medical attention, how then can we consider and properly prepare for all variables in the future that may or may not happen? This is a daunting task and though it would be ideal to be prepared for anything, it just is not realistic for the mainstream. What we need is to grow wealth and to also have access to it. 

Wealth creation has to start somewhere. We can’t get caught up in the notion that $20 won’t make a dent. There is no choice but to start at $0 and begin small. Then, to make the most of small money it must go into something that gives compounding growth. Savings with interest is cute, but a platform that allows you to invest is even better. 

The great underestimated tool is the 401k. It is protected from creditors, there are tax benefits and it is the “quick and easy” for building the proverbial nest egg. 

A 401k is a game-changer, but many employers who do not provide a 401k report that it is because no one has asked. That being said, if there is no 401k offered by your company, it doesn’t hurt to ask. The 401k allows us to not just save, but exponentially grow with the power of delicious compounding and all while we are having lunch with friends, scrolling Instagram, and creating our next idea. Creating wealth, without having to become an expert, means these young innovators have the space to create a new world and still have money to lean on when they need it (whether to fund a business venture or to live off of at a later time). Young Millennials are redefining the perception of money, resources, and time. Layer that in with some old-school tools and I believe we have a stellar future on the horizon.