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MacroMonitor Market Trends Newsletter December 2013

The MacroMonitor Market Trends Newsletter from Consumer Financial Decisions (CFD) highlights topical news and trends of interest to you and your colleagues.

Gen X–Headed Households

Gen Xers were born between 1963 and 1976: The youngest are in their late-thirties; the oldest will have turned age 50 in 2013. The majority (78%) are between the ages of 40 and 49. As a bridge generation between two larger age cohorts—Baby Boomers and Millennials—Gen Xers are of interest because, in many respects, they reflect a profile of middle-American households in child-rearing Life Stages: Almost three in five have dependent children younger than age 18. However, younger members of this cohort provide direction for changes—such as technology use and the ability to retire successfully—that will become more pronounced in Millennials.

Gen X Balance-Sheet Trends

Overall, Gen X–headed households have been hit hard by the recession. Caught in the beginning of their asset-building years, they are behind where they need to be because many of them, having established a baseline on which to build their assets, have seen their balances diminish. For example, home equity may have improved but has not rebounded to where it was before the Recession. At the same time that Gen Xers face diminished assets, many of them struggle to pay down debt during a Life Stage when the need for leverage that borrowing provides is critical. In short, Gen Xers were hurt in the recession, and they have a long way to go to recover. Opportunities exist for financial-services providers that think outside the box to offer products that help Gen Xer households achieve multiple goals more quickly than do products currently on offer.

If this market segment is important to your business:

MacroMonitor subscribers may request a package of custom, edited data tables and charts that profile Gen X–headed households.

In addition, from their CFD-client landing page, subscribers may:

  • Access the December 2013 Segment Summary, Generation X Households.
  • Download the December 2013 Dirty Dozen—a dozen annotated graphic-analysis slides that pertain to Generation X households.
  • View Quick Stats for Generational Cohort definitions and a chart of households in each cohort from 2002 through 2012.
  • Schedule a full presentation about these households, including a customized and proprietary Q&A session. Contact us to schedule your presentation.

If you are not a MacroMonitor subscriber but would like more information about Gen X households, please contact us for package information and pricing.