With Millennials and Baby Boomers representing two large population segments today – more than 140 million Americans in total – Financial Institutions (FIs) are grappling with ways to meet the growing and unique needs of each of these groups. But meet them they must, as FIs continue to face disintermediation from FinTech companies with new, and often more modern, offerings that are making customers question why their current FIs don’t offer equivalent or better solutions.
However, with more consumers open to using FinTech tools that measure financial data points, FIs have an unprecedented opportunity to go beyond typical tools and deliver the digital financial assistance that consumers need to attain true financial wellness through financial data aggregation intelligence.
Financial Wellness: What It Is and Why It Matters
Financial wellness is like having a check-up with your doctor to discuss your health and put together a plan to get on track. Tools that measure financial wellness work much the same way, giving consumers financial insights to help them assess their situation and reach their financial goals by offering customized prescriptive actions.
By all accounts, many Americans could benefit from such insights. Some 56% of American consumers report they’re living paycheck to paycheck, while 40% say they need to use credit to cover a $400 expense.1,2 Looking at Millennials and Boomers specifically, we find the same alarming trend. For example, the 2018 recession not only derailed Millennials' financial goals, but the coronavirus also destroyed their financial stability at rates almost twice as high as their Boomer parents.3 Speaking of Boomers, a 2019 study revealed only 55% of respondents had retirement savings, meaning 45% of Boomers surveyed had no retirement savings. 4
The Opportunity for Financial Institutions
These statistics represent a real cry for help FIs are uniquely positioned to answer. Unlike FinTechs, FIs not only possess a wealth of customer data but also years of experience managing finances. By leveraging data intelligence solutions on top of this foundation, FIs can provide a personalized and customized experience to proactively guide consumers through key financial moments.
Plus, FIs have an intimate understanding of financial wellness across the spectrum of life events that FinTech’s can’t match. To unleash the power of this advantage, FIs can use digital technology to deliver actionable suggestions and guidance to help consumers gain a deeper understanding of their overall financial situation and develop a personalized, actionable financial wellness plan.
With aggregated data intelligence solutions that include AI-driven virtual financial assistance. FIs can use data analytics to monitor and create personalized recommendations that help explain, motivate and empower consumers to make better financial decisions.
Envestnet | Yodlee Helping Consumers of All Generations
Envestnet® | Yodlee® has the solutions and the data to help FIs make a difference in consumers’ financial well-being. With Envestnet | Yodlee Financial Wellness Solutions, FIs can deliver AI-driven financial applications that will work with consumers to measure their financial data, monitor their financial health, and automate and improve daily financial management around spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. Envestnet | Yodlee Insights Solutions combine dynamic consumer insights, unique peer benchmarking data, personalized views, and critical data needed for segmentation to enable contextual, hyper-personalized digital financial experiences.
Fueling these solutions is the Envestnet | Yodlee Data Platform. This platform leverages over 17,000 global data sources, an unparalleled breadth, depth, and variety of financial accounts (including cash, credit, loans, investments, and bills). With the full support of the Envestnet | Yodlee Financial Data Platform, Insights Solutions, and Financial Wellness Solutions empower FIs to provide a personalized and predictive customer experience. By offering guidance alongside education, FIs can increase banking opportunities, help their customers optimize financial wellness, and become the trusted partner consumers turn to throughout their lives.
1 “Reality Check: The Paycheck-to-Paycheck Report." Pymts.com & Lending Club. June 2021. https://www.pymnts.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PYMNTS-Reality-Check-Paycheck-to-Paycheck-June-2021.pdf
2 “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2019 - May 2020.” Federal Reserve. https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/2020-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2019-dealing-with-unexpected-expenses.htm
3 Leonhardt, Megan. “Millennials, Gen-Z Twice as Likely as Their Parents to Say Covid-19 Upended Their Financial Security.” CNBC.com. August 4, 2020. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/04/nearly-1-in-3-millennials-gen-z-say-covid-19-negatively-impacted-financial-security.html
4 “Boomer Expectations for Retirement 2019.“Ninth Annual Update. Insured Retirement Institute. April 2019.
