Are millennials that mysterious? Who belongs to that group?

Editor: Johnathan Meyers | Tactical Investor

Many readers wrote in stating that they loved the concept of us posting excerpts to other interesting articles. In keeping with that theme, we think the following post could make for a great read. A wide array of topics is covered as we believe that in today’s world of finance everything is interrelated. Mass Psychology states that if you centre of attention is on one particular target; it is akin to looking at the tree only and forgetting that it is part of the forest. Lastly, the media is rife with fake news; in reality, the media pushes nothing but fake news for lies sell more than the truth

No one can claim to have mastered the markets fully and anyone that does lay claim to such a title should be avoided like the plague. For example, after QE all the rules changed and many time-tested indicators simply ceased to work because the operating environment had changed forever. The markets were suddenly hit with a force that they had never been hit with before. A fed that was determined to destroy any shred of free market forces left in the market. This surprised everyone, and it even caught us off guard initially. Many so-called experts refuse to accept that they made a mistake or could be wrong. Bull Markets Vs Bear Markets & Arrogance

Search the term “millennials” on the internet and you’ll find a slew of articles, essays and think-pieces trying to figure out the inner workings of the first generation to come of age in the new millennium.

There is no specific dates that define the scope of the millennial generation, but many agree that it consists of people born between 1980 and 2000. That’s a pretty large age range and covers a large number of people — more than 80 million, by many accounts — but that hasn’t stopped some from trying to analyze, categorize, summarize and proselytize about the various ways in which millennials are doing, well, everything.
“After completing this program, you will understand how key generational differences impact our interactions in the workplace,” the website reads. “These differences include communication, expectations, motivation and values. Once you are able to grasp these key concepts, you will attract, motivate and retain millennials, while maintaining a positive culture.”
It seems much of the frenzy around figuring out millennials comes from a notion that this generation is opportunistic and hops between jobs rather quickly, but a study from the Pew Research Center found that workers ages 18 to 35 are just as likely to stay with their employers as members of Generation X were when they were young adults. Read more

Almost all adults want to know more about Millennials and why they are like they are and why they turned out the way they did.

Marketers want to know how to sell to Millennials.
Employers want to know how to recruit, motivate and retain Millennials.
Parents probably want to know why their Millennial is still living in the basement.
Google wants to know why their Millennial employees are living in campers in their parking lots.
Educators probably want to know what they did wrong.

Millennials were raised to believe that they were special and more special than everyone else. You’ve heard that in team sports, everyone got a trophy, not for excelling at the sport, but just for showing up. The real world is a bit more competitive than that. Just telling a person they can become anything they want, without showing them how much work and effort it will take is not so smart. Its one thing for kids to believe they can become the next Michael Jordan (great basketball player) or the next Steve Jobs, or the next the next Bill Gates, but you have to show them what it will take and then encourage them to put in the effort and the practice. Read more

Do you still talk about Millennials like you just don’t get them at your organization? Who are they? What motivates them? Why are their expectations and approaches so different? Millennials are rewriting the rules of the workplace and, like the end of the dinosaur age, the corporate world is struggling to catch on.

Millennials had a drastically different childhood and coming of age experience than previous generations due to the wealth of information available to them due to technology. Put yourself in their shoes and understand the drivers behind the traits often named of Millennials: self-entitled, disloyal, indecisive, among others. For example, have you ever considered that the appearance of being entitled is driven instead by a need for immediacy from growing up with technology?

Set aside your assumptions of this generation for a moment and go talk to them. You’ll find that yes, there are Millennials who grew up heavily influenced by helicopter parents and the Self Esteem Movement, but you will also discover the wide diversity within the Millennial generation. In the U.S., this is the most diverse generation of all previous generations. The better practice is to not assume the background of a Millennial. For example, the perception of entitled could be because a Millennial had helicopter parents, but equivalently could be because a Millennial had divorced parents, low income background and has a strong drive to make it to the next level. Read more

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