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September 9, 2010 • Posted by Sarah FossGeneration Y Chooses Financial Security
Most Americans in their early 20s begin to experience financial independence – for better or worse. Due to lack of experience and responsibility, they have been branded as being less than fiscally fit. They have little to lose in most instances – no home ownership or families – and, historically, act like it, taking excessive financial risks and blowing cash.
Times are changing.
“Today, only 22% of investors under the age of 35 say they’re willing to take on a substantial level of risk… Compare that with 2001, when that same group outpaced every other age bracket.” CNNmoney.com points out that the financial crisis that hit today’s families, did so at quite an impressionable point in their lives. The article notes that generation Y is the largest group suffering from the unemployment crisis, as they are watching their parents prolong retirement, return to work, and hurting financially. These events have led to their being much more risk-adverse with their financial choices and more careful with cash. CDs, Treasuries, and high-yield savings accounts top the list of products most often selected by those getting their feet wet in the recession. These individuals are also setting savings goals for life events like the aforementioned first home or baby, weddings, and vacations. And as the average age for weddings and first home purchases continues to trend later, Generation Y is responding by saving more and saving early.
Savings goals like these are among the most popular on SmartyPig today. With our competitive interest rates, social features that allow friends and family members to pitch in, and huge cash back offers, many Americans are finding no better place to successfully save for their life events and experiences than SmartyPig.
As always, good luck with your savings goals!
Sarah Foss, SmartyPig’s Mad Media Woman
SFoss@SmartyPig.com
SmartyPig March Madness (Twitter and Facebook Contests)
Not just one but TWO Twitter (and Facebook) contests coming your way for a chance to win $100 big ones in March. Let the savings begin!
SmartyPig will be giving away not just three, but FOUR $100 gift cards through our monthly Twitter contest, TWICE:
1. Thursday, March 18 at 11am CST. We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply for a chance to win.
2. Tuesday, March 30 at 11am CST. Same format as above!
The format:
- After 15 minutes, we will be picking 16 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
- We’ll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
- We’ll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!
Make sure:
- You’re following us on Twitter or are a fan on Facebook.
- We’ll ask the $100 question on Thursday, March 18 AND Tuesday, March 30 at 11am CST.
- Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!
- If you are answering via Facebook, you will need to email us the answer (email to be provided at contest time) within the 15 minute time frame.
Remember: if you don’t already have a SmartyPig account, it’s free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.
Good Luck!
January 2010 Twitter Contest
Let the savings begin! SmartyPig will be giving away three $100 gift cards through our monthly Twitter contest – Thursday, January 28 at 11 CST. We will tweet a question and give our followers 15 minutes to reply for a chance to win.
The format:
- After 15 minutes, we will be picking 20 random people with a number generator from the pool of correct answers.
- We’ll use an old favorite to help in selecting three gift card winners.
- We’ll post the process here on our blog, so everyone can follow along!
Make sure:
- You’re following us on Twitter.
- We’ll ask the $100 question on Thursday, January 28 at 11am CST.
- Answer the question correctly for your chance to win!
Remember: if you don’t already have a SmartyPig account, it’s free to set one up! Winner must be in the US.
Good Luck!
December 2009 Twitter Contest Winners
Happy Holidays! We recently enhanced our list of retail and travel companies and asked you to name one and give their specific boost. The most popular answer was Macy’s with a 12% boost and Amazon with 4% boost a close second.
Here is a full list of our retail/travel partners (we’ve added many).
We had over 130 players, randomized our list to 20 and picked the 3 $100 SmartyPig gift card winners by throwing snowballs:
The top 20 were: Clarabela, wmharp, snooptoddd, LadiiRomance, jbrowning, centrachad, RendaInDSM, stevecramer, LynnKB24, violetnell, acousticdryad, CaseyG2782, yestismedoug, flysupes, 3L4Iowa, veddemeg, jessc098. Thank you for playing and good luck next time!
Congrats to our winners: @who8myMnMs, @Etnalla and @rcooper – enjoy your $100!
Card Companies Pig Out
Credit card companies are realizing tremendous profit as they punish customers by increasing credit card rates at the worst possible time. Customers struggling to pay interest rates in the single digits are now seeing rates of 20%+ when they open up their card statements. According to David Ellis in a recent CNNMoney article, “Looks can be deceiving, especially in the credit card business.”
No matter if the relationship is in good standing or even if you pay your entire bill off every month, it’s a cash grab for Wall Street at the expense of Main Street, as congress moves to speed legislation to protect those who need it most. And with the holidays coming, and recent statistics from Consumer Reports indicating that 13.5 million Americans are still carrying debt incurred from last year’s holiday season, our leaders in Washington cannot move fast enough.
Financial expert and “Today Show” contributor Jean Chatzky has recommended socking away $100 each week starting now until December to ease the eventual pain caused by seasonal spending. Chatzky smartly points out that, by setting a goal like this and sticking to it, by the time the holidays roll around, credit cards might not be the necessary evil they have been in the past.
We could not agree more, and, in fact, this sentiment is exactly what we here at SmartyPig stand for. With expenses like gifts and travel piling up, there has never been a better time to take back control. Credit cards are doing more harm than good, even to the most loyal and responsible customers. Thus, there’s no time like the present to stand up for yourself, get back to the basics and finally own the holidays. A little bit at a time can definitely make a whole lot of difference.
