Number of Younger Millionaires Who Use an Advisor Is Declining: Fidelity

“With the percentage of Gen X/Y millionaires using an advisor on the decline, the industry needs to take a step back and ask: What can we be doing to ‘tip’ these investors toward valuing advice?” said David Canter, head of the registered investment advisor segment at Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions. “Gen X and Millennials don’t manage their finances in the same way that their parents did – they want an advisor who will be their own personal CFO and organize and simplify their financial lives.”

Gen X and millennial millionaires look much different than older generations of millionaires do. The study finds that these younger millionaires are more diverse (17% are non-Caucasian compared with 5% of boomers) and more likely to be women (44% compared with 32% of boomers).

And the differences don’t end there. The Fidelity Millionaire Outlook study found that Gen X and millennial millionaires take a much different approach to money than boomers.

The younger millionaires have more aggressive portfolios – 14% hold derivatives, compared with 6% of boomers; 19% hold venture capital investments, compared with 6% of boomers; and 16% hold foreign currency, compared with 5% of boomers.

This younger cohort also has higher expectations when it comes to their advisors’ management of their portfolios. Gen X and millennial millionaires expect investment returns to be 16% on average. By comparison, boomers expect investment returns to be 7%.