Insights into mature consumers of financial services

The purpose of this paper is to investigate psychographic, demographic and situational characteristics of Baby Boomer generation consumers, specifically in relation to their consumption of financial services.

A survey was pre‐tested and 776 responses (77.6 per cent response rate) were subjected to correlation and ANOVA analysis. The survey covered a wide range of variables for decision making for financial services, including situational, demographic, and psychographic.

Consumers who scored higher on scales for competitiveness and need for material resources tended to have higher incomes. Mature consumers were likely to face major life events involving their children and parents, but these events were least likely to prompt the use of a financial service adviser. However, some respondents showed a propensity for seeking financial advice in relation to many types of life events. There were also relationships between seeking financial information from certain service providers.

The paper's findings assist in building a picture of the psychographic and behavioural tendencies of the largest age cohort.

The findings suggest strategies for: cross‐selling through referral networks of different financial service providers; communications to increase awareness of the likelihood of financial pressures from aging parents, potentially concurrently with adult children; and lead generation based on the likelihood of having a higher income, seeking financial advice and using financial services.

There is a dearth of literature on the consumption behaviour of mature consumers in relation to financial services. Financial services are a major industry in most developed economies and sound financial management is critical for the Baby Boomer cohort. This paper assists in understanding this significant market to facilitate enhanced marketing strategies.