Nevin's Data "Points"

   I recently stumbled into a bit of controversy on LinkedIn.  Honestly, I’m not even sure how this wound up in my “feed” — but there was a post from the  Atlanta Journal-Constitution  on the topic of “micro-retirements.” Now, if you’re like me, you may be wondering — what the heck is a MICRO-retirement?  Turns out that, unlike actual retirement, it’s a series of multiple, intentional “mini-breaks” from work throughout life — rather than waiting until the traditional “big” retirement at the end of a career.  Some of you are going to say — oh, we used to call that a sabbatical. Others might well see this as some kind of extended PTO or vacation break. But those, of course, are generally employer supported/sanctioned, whereas these micro-retirements presumably would not be.  Oh, and none other than  sidehustles.com [i]  (who admittedly might be biased on the subject) claims that 1 in 10 Americans plan to take one this year. That said, it’s...

Those “kids” who were just dropped off at college for the first time? By their sophomore year, their generation will constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population. How will their retirement be different? That’s according to the authors of the so-called Mindset List – now housed at Marist College, having relocated from Beloitt College – has been published each August since 1998 . Originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, the list provides a “look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.” Not to mention those who will go on to be workers and – eventually – retirees. This fall’s college class of 2023 is the first class born in the 21st Century (2001) – and thus lack a personal memory of the September 11 attacks. According to the authors of the Mindset List: This group has never used a floppy disk (heck, they’ve probably never even seen one, except at that “save” icon). Their phone has a...

I’ve learned two things about Millennials over the years: first, that there are few things they find more bothersome than having Boomers tell them  what they should be doing – and if there is anything more bothersome than the first, it’s being called “Millennials.” Setting that aside, I was recently asked to participate in a forum focused on the challenges to retirement savings faced by Millennials. That event, “The Millennial Perspective: An Intergenerational Discussion on Retirement Savings,” was sponsored by Women for a Secure Retirement (WISER), centered on the organization’s iOme Challenge to develop a comprehensive proposal to address the challenges Millennials face in saving for retirement. Of course, the definition of a Millennial has proven to be surprisingly elusive over time. But those in the forum were willing to accept the definition recently put forth by the Pew Research Center, that it would apply to those born between 1981 and 1996 – which, ...