Pub. 5 2015-2016 Issue 5

8 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S - H E L P I N G C O L O R A D A N S R E A L I Z E D R E A M S FEATURE ARTICLE KEVIN BOYLES VICE PRESIDENT, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASCENSUS The seed was planted decades ago when virtually every fi nancial services firm had a vested interest in helping Americans save for retirement. Using IRAs to Attract and Retain Millennial Customers M illennials, Americans born generally between 1980 and the mid-2000s, are the largest generation in Unit- ed States history—surpassing even Baby Boomers. Your bank likely has already thought about how to attract and retain Millenni- als. But have you considered how IRAs can help? The idea may seem strange, considering your bank’s experience with IRAs. The thing to remember about Millennials, though, is that they have a talent for disrupting everything. They don’t want to come into the branch, but want you to have branches. They don’t want to live in their hometown, but want to bank there. They’re incredibly social, but live on their phones. They’re independent, but they live with their parents longer than other generations did. To attract and maintain Millennials as customers, your bank needs to rethink how it views IRAs. After all, your bank’s staff will be the supporting actors in the big picture that draws crowds of younger customers. What once was shall no longer be Youmay wonder whyMillennials would look to your bank for help with these accounts. The answer is simple: they are tired of being ignored by everyone else. The seed was planted decades ago when vir- tually every financial services firmhad a vested interest in helping Americans save for retire- ment. Brokerage firms, credit unions, national banks, insurance companies, and all other providers competed heavily for nearly 20 years to get start-up IRAs. That was the “accumula- tion phase” of retirement saving. Accumulation was key and every financial provider knew it, regardless of the type of investments it offered. In the mid-90s, a shift occurred. Money piled up in these accounts, so investment pro- viders shifted gears to chase the money. Their goal was to convince savers to aggregate their savings dollars with their firms.