Who is more financially savvy, the younger or older generation?

Who is more financially savvy, the younger or older generation?

 

We run a blog as well as a vlog right? And whilst we enjoy the day-to-day running of both sites, we are not too technologically savvy and so we often solicit the help of our daughter/niece to assist us with certain things. Whilst she is happy to help (most times at least) she can’t seem to fathom why we can’t get certain things in our head or why we forget so easily or why we didn’t know about the existence of certain applications that could make our work easier and even help us to save more money.

 

Well, said daughter is also into finances, investing, budgeting, that sort of thing, which we are really pleased about. We love when kids are financially savvy. So fast forward (backward, even) to yesterday. We were having this conversation about which generation is better at managing financial affairs – Generation Y (Millenials born between 1980 to 2000) and us born in the ’60s (Generation X).

 

She seems to think that her generation has it easier having been born with such great technological advancements at her fingertips. We agree! It’s almost like some of these kids nowadays were born with a chip in their brain which allows them to grasp the concept of using computer-related things almost from birth!

Have you noticed babies in pushchairs with a firm grasp on a mobile phone watching something of interest? I mean, some of them are not able to walk yet or even have the manual dexterity to be able to hold and use a phone properly, and yet they know how to skip ads, scroll past things they don’t want to see and will show their displeasure if the battery dies or if the mother takes a call, whilst they are using the phone!

 

So I do agree that their technologically savvy ways and the availability of apps and so on, should see them in better stead financially. They both work well together. I guess then, that our responsibility in this cause is to offer advice and suggestions especially with regards to finances, budgeting, getting a mortgage, and services like that, and then leave it up to them to be able to maneuver their way through these, using the technology at their fingertips.

 

Talking about financial services, I really abhor having to pay more and more each year for car insurance, home insurance, and the like.  So I make it a habit to check price comparison sites like Money Supermarket or Compare the Market for help with these. After a few years of doing this, I can say that I have either had a decrease in these costs year on year or have paid the same as in the previous year.

I want to invest

Well at this time of the year, I really wanted to invest a bit more (while so many others are looking to spend)  and I was relaying to my daughter that I was peeved at the fact that there were no comparison sites that could show me the options available to me so that I could weigh up the pros and cons and choose. Every application provider seem to be in it for themselves, so they only promote their own! Well, she did put me straight! She introduced me to Sortter! And I was so glad that she did.

 

Sortter is an advanced comparison site that helps with showing you what options are available to you when it comes to choosing a digital bank, money transfer services, getting into the (magical) world of cryptocurrency, choosing an investment platform, etc.

I really do wish that a site like this was available in my younger days! The site is easy to maneuver and is quite responsive. 

 

Once I got onto Sortter.com, I decided to have a look around and look at the section entitled: I want to invest. I was able to answer a few questions using the easy-to-use drop-down menus. The questions ranged from which country was my country of residence, what was more attractive to me, like ease of use, advanced trading tools, or whether I wanted an app that I could use to learn about investing (beginners option). I could also select what investment products I was interested in, for example, stocks, cryptos, and ETF’s. After making my selections of Stocks and mutual funds, I had to then select my trading currency and how I wanted to deposit money to my investment broker account (and the options were varied, such as Paypal, bank transfer, debit/credit card, etc.) Based on my selections, Sortter brought up about 7 apps that I could choose to go with. Of course, the option was there to learn more about each one so that I could make an informed choice. I like this.

I also like the fact that Sortter is not biased in the options shown. It wasn’t forced, and the final decision was mine to make.

It was great to have all the options on one screen so that I could check them all out. Clicking on each option eventually takes you to the respective app’s website so that you could proceed from there. In my case, I had the choice of Revolut, Etoro, Uphold, Avatrade, Plus 500, Xtb and Degiro.

Money transfer services

I am always using money transfer services and I hate that I actually have to physically go to withdraw cash and take it to Western Union or Moneygram. To me, it’s just not safe and it is also time-consuming. Not only that, but the person I am sending the money to, also has to physically go to accept cash. So I tried Sortter for better remittance options. Here’s an example I tried out:

 

Finding Money Transfer options using Sortter. A few simple steps

1. On the top left of the screen (on a laptop or desktop) I selected: I want to transfer money
2. Then select the country of residence
3. Select Personal or Business use
4. Select the 2 most important features from the following: fees/price, ease of use, 24/7 support, and speed of transaction (I opted for ease of use and speed of transaction as those were most important to me)
5. I then had to select how I wanted to do the transfer: Bank transfer, debit/credit card, or Apple Pay/Google Pay. I chose bank transfer and then whether or not scheduled transfers were important to me
6. The last step showed me 3 options that were suitable based on my selections. It also pointed out which of the options had low, medium, and high transfer fees, and also how many currencies each one supported.

I think I’d now much prefer to use a money transfer app on my phone rather than driving to a Western Union branch. This means that the recipient of the funds can receive the money straight into their bank account or digital wallet without the need for an intermediary. Yes!

 

I quite like that security when using these apps is taken seriously. Security of funds is a top feature you get to enjoy while using an app to transfer money. The best apps for money transfer will feature encrypted transactions and bug fixes designed to protect you from malicious attacks. You can also set up a fingerprint level of security on a money transfer app for iPhone or Android devices.

 

I see also that Sortter is about to help me with my intrigue re cryptocurrency. What is it about? That is the next thing I have to check out on Sortter because they are a credible source and I do trust them to provide me with relevant information so that I can make informed choices.

According to the Sortter website, “We help you to translate all the fees and banking terms into something even a grandma can understand. We are always 100% on your side: we offer fair comparisons, free of charge and tailored to your needs”.

There is so much more that I would like to find out and thankfully, I don’t need to depend on my daughter/niece to help me navigate the Sortter site because they have made it so that it is user-friendly for even a Generation Xer like me.

So, back to the question, Who is more financially savvy, the younger or older generation?

I say that the savvier is the one who uses the technologies available to them in their quest to make sound financial decisions. A website like Sortter can propel us so much towards our dreams of financial confidence and freedom, whatever the age.

It’s out there guys, we just have to be willing to discover the potential available at our fingertips and use them to our advantage.

 

Take my advice and try it out. All the relevant information you need is available in a clear and easy-to-understand format. There is also further information that is found below the options that are generated for you. Do let us know in the comment box below, what your thoughts are on this post.