Research
Gearing up for Generations
X and Y
Qualitative Insights into the Financial Behaviors, Relationships, Needs and Desires of the Emerging Affluent
Hearts & Wallets Explore series is based on multi-sponsor focus groups held across America. This report features analysis of 8 groups of Generation X and Y investors in their 20s and 30s held in November 2011. The objectives of this research were to discover the “influencers” of Generations X and Y – i.e. the sources they turn to for information on investments and investment providers– and to better understand the nuances of the financial concerns, goals, and experiences that shape the thinking, and actions, of young investors. Explore focus groups always use a behavioral segmentation to get to the heart of the needs and experiences of homogenous segments. The groups employed the following behavioral segmentation:
- Peak Accumulators and Future Peak Accumulators – Investors who do six Peak Accumulators behaviors (i.e., regularly contributing to a retirement plan, spending less than they make, etc.) and have at least $50K of investable assets.
- Struggling Savers – Investors who do not do all six behaviors and have less than $100K of investable assets.
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Investor Quantitative
Panel: 2011
15 Insight Modules to Inspire New Solutions to Unmet Needs and Reveal Keys to Success for Critical Business Goals
“Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.” - Demosthenes, c. 380 BC
Opportunities, both small and big, are plentiful in today’s investment and retirement market: a new customer need, a new way of doing things, a crisis or a threatening trend. Competitors who recognize and adapt will gain share and influence. But there’s a dark side, dangerous to opportunities, too—those competitors who don’t see opportunity, or fail to adapt, eventually wither.
To stimulate business planning, Hearts & Wallets presents Investor Quantitative Panel: 2011—15 Insight Modules to Inspire New Solutions to Unmet Needs and Reveal Keys to Success for Critical Business Goals. Based on a survey of more than 4500 U.S. households, the latest edition of this multi-year, leading-edge research study explores the most current variations in U.S. investor attitudes, needs, financial relationships, product ownership, retirement savings and planning, based on wealth, age, lifestage, and behavioral segments. Detailed competitive data is available for more than two dozen firms, including those who work directly with investors and third-party distributed asset managers. Exciting opportunities abound, along with examples of firms who are capitalizing and thriving, as well as ones that are struggling with the dangerous side of opportunity and losing relevance.
The report is divided into six focus areas—Portrait of U.S. Household Wealth, Investor Attitudes, Preferences & Behaviors, Benchmarks & Perspectives on Industry Delivery, Retirement Trends, Data & Insights into Solutions, Guides to Achieving Business Outcomes, and Insights into Key Segments. Each of the 15 modules has been created to stand alone, allowing the user to tune into what is most relevant to their business, or collectively, create a comprehensive library of key observations and business implications that can help your whole organization.
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Acquiring Mid-Career Accumulators:
Positioning Advice and Disclosing Fees with Upshifting and Downshifting Investors
Hearts & Wallets Explore series is based on multi-sponsor focus groups held across America. This report features analysis of 9 groups of “Mid and Late Career Accumulators” (investors in their 40s and 50s who don’t plan to retire in the next 5 years) held in June 2011. The key question that inspired the research is whether, why and how investors trained on self-service platforms will “up-shift” to full service offerings to get more advice, or whether self-service employer-sponsored plan providers will keep the incumbent advantage. To understand the emerging trends, the three segments examined are those with recent experience changing providers, or those very engaged with their current providers. These groups will be quantified in the upcoming 2011 Investor Quantitative Panel.
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Addressing the Elephant in Financial Services
Insights into How Older Investors Really Want to Receive, and Pay for, Investment and Personal Finance Advice
This report-the latest in Hearts & Wallets Explore Series-features analysis of 9 groups of older investors (Late Careers and Pre- and Post-Retirees) held in April 2011. Groups were organized by affluence and ability to retire-some groups had successfully made the transition into retirement, while those in the Late Career groups were unlikely to be able to retire soon without an unforeseen windfall. Discussions were designed to uncover the different needs of these groups and how they interacted with investment advisors and providers. The findings will help your firm improve client service models, acquisition, and retention, train and educate advisors to improve client retention and prospecting, refine pricing and fee disclosure, and enhance client trust.
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After the Gold Rush: What’s Next for Retirement Income
Assessing Market Growth, Solutions, and Strategy in 2011 and Beyond
This latest report in the Hearts & Wallets Competitive Landscape series is based on a survey of two-dozen financial services executives whose firms have about $10 trillion in assets under administration/management. In addition to the survey, interviews with many of these executives, as well as countless conversations with product development, strategy, and marketing executives have informed the insights contained within these 7 chapters. Hearts & Wallets also analyzed publicly available information on marketing messages and calculators. The data and analysis within this report is designed to make a positive impact across an organization—whether focused on manufacturing investment or insurance products, distributing investments, serving 401(k) plan participants, or a mix of some, or all, of these services.
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Reactions to Retirement Income Concepts:
Beliefs, Attitudes & Behaviors that Guide the Decisions of Older Investors
Hearts & Wallets’ Explore Series is based on multi-sponsor focus groups held across America. This report—released in January 2011—features analysis of older investors (Late Careers and Pre- and Post-Retirees) held in late October 2010. Groups were organized by retirement income and spending philosophy (i.e., Frugal, Calculator, and Spender) and centered on testing a range of product concepts and attributes. Another goal was to also uncover investor views on making the transition from work to retirement, and their unmet needs in working with financial service firms and advisors.
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Investor Quantitative Panel: 2010
15 Insight Modules to Inspire New Solutions to Unmet Needs and Reveal Keys to Success for Critical Business Goals
Hearts & Wallets believes conventional wisdom around investor segmentation needs to be updated to reflect the modern world in which the correlation between age and lifestage is in rapid decline—how many people do you know who are starting families in their 40s and even 50s, or working well into their 70s? We also believe that the study of investor behaviors and attitudes offer a superior means to predict the financial habits and purchasing patterns of investors, than simple age- and wealth-based segmentation, although we believe those are important too.
These beliefs form the basis of Hearts & Wallets latest in-depth research study—Investor Quantitative Panel: 2010—15 Insight Modules to Inspire New Solutions to Unmet Needs and Reveal Keys to Success for Critical Business Goals. Based on a survey of more than 4000 U.S. households, this leading-edge research study, explores variations in U.S. investor attitudes, needs, financial relationships, product ownership, retirement savings and planning, and so on, based on wealth, lifestage, and behavioral segments.
The report is divided into three primary focus areas—the overall market, Pre- and Post-Retirees, and Accumulators (investors in their 20s, 30s, 40, and 50s, who are not within 5 years of retirement), and each of the 15 modules has been created to stand alone, allowing the user to tune into what is most relevant to their business, or collectively, creating a comprehensive library of key observations and business implications.
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Competing in the Next Great Financial Services Battleground:
Strategies and Tactics for Winning the Hearts & Wallets of Mid-Career Accumulators
With this ground-breaking new study, Hearts & Wallets examines the competitive landscape for investment relationships and assets of Mid-career Accumulators—American investors in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. The report is based largely on a survey of executives with 16 leading financial services firms (with $13 trillion of asset under management/administration), including asset managers, banks, brokerages, insurers, and retirement plan administrators.
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Rethinking Retirement, Investor Trust, and the Value Proposition:
Sizing, Harnessing Behavioral Segmentation to Address Major Differences in Investor Attitudes and Emotional States
Hearts and Wallets bi-annual Explore series is based on multi-sponsor focus groups held across America. This report—the first in the series—features analysis of 9 Mid- and Late-career investor focus groups held in late January 2010. Discussions were centered on the drivers of trust in financial services firms and advisors, plans for (and perceptions of) retirement, the transition to retirement, and key needs and motivators—all of which were examined in light of the recent financial crisis and economic downturn.
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Portrait of U.S. Household Financial Wealth:
Sizing, Segmentation, Product Ownership and Household Profiles
This research report features a synthesis of proprietary and government data (from the Survey of Consumer Finances and Federal Flow of Funds Report). Within the report, Hearts & Wallets quantifies investable assets and financial product ownership for the entire U.S. market, and segments investor assets into 6 age and 8 wealth categories, and 48 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive groups. The report also features updated estimates for the size of the U.S. retirement income market, product usage across investor age and wealth segments, and analysis of investor assets post-market crash. This report saves time, money, and is a tremendous resource for business planning.
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Capturing the Hearts & Wallets™ of Peak Accumulators™:
Building Profitable Investment Business with Generation X and Younger Boomers
This research report is an in-depth examination of the finances of Generation X and Younger Boomers (age 28-52), covering the attitudes, needs, and financial relationships of this under-served group, which numbers 57 million households and controls more than $6 trillion in investable assets. The report features specific recommendations and strategies for acquiring and working with these investors, as well as a new behavioral segmentation model that uncovers a very attractive sub-segment we call Peak Accumulators™.
