The US 'mass affluent' are older but those defining their digital financial services are young. That can cause problems.

Nielsen defines the Mass Affluent as US households with $250,000 to $1,000,000 in liquid assets - excluding real estate.

The Mass Affluent make up about 11% of U.S. households but control over a quarter of total
U.S. wealth. You get the picture, they are an attractive segment of the population for financial institutions.

Not surprisingly, this group is older, with Boomers making up 41%  of the segment and the 65+ accounting for over a third.

Putting this into context - Millennials represent 10%.

Now none will surprise you (hopefully). Nielsen then goes on to show that there are differences in the attitudes of the generations to technology. Again, not a surprise.

Older and wealthier people tend to be digitally literate. So the differences in attitude tend to be mainly about the use of platforms. Younger people are happier with mobile than older.

At the end of reading the report I was left wondering what I was supposed to do with the research findings. It is all very interesting and great for presentations but how would it impact the way I devised my digital strategy?

I think the main lesson for marketers is that it is very easy to think that the whole world has the same digital attitudes and desires as yourself. Marketers in the finance sector are likely to be in the younger group yet most of their customers are older.

As far as I can see that is about the only major lesson to learn. Dick Stroud