By Daniel Archibald | CFA
Many Australians that finished school and entered adulthood around the turn of the century would have been familiar with the adopted label of 'Gen Y'. This was a term used frequently to describe this cohort of society who had grown up in a world quickly changing. As kids, they played on their gaming consoles and had drawers full of VHS tapes and DVDs. By the time they were leaving home, multiplayer online games were becoming the norm and they became the main pioneers of the social media movement. But, over the last decade, generation Y has lost its identity, swallowed up by its successor - the Millennials.
Overall, there are a number of generational groups that have been loosely identified over the years. The purpose of such categorisation is to make general observations and assumptions about the group and their collective behaviours. This is often used by sales and marketing departments in seeking to understand consumption behaviour, but can also be useful in other disciplines such as medicine and politics, as well as in investment management.
The 'Greatest Generation' - those who grew up during the great depression and were veterans of WWII - was one of the first of the generational group to get a name. This was based on a book of the same name by journalist Tom Brokaw, which eventually became adopted in popular culture. Similarly, most of the other generational names had the same genesis, but none received such an admirable one. Chronologically, these 'lesser' generations have been:
- Silent generation - born roughly between 1930 and 1945. They were mostly younger children during the depression and WWII and became adults as the post-war boom started to take hold. They were also among the millions of young immigrants that spread from Europe
- Baby boomers - born roughly between 1946 and 1965. The young adults of the 70s and 80s, this generation helped build the foundations of modern society, whilst dealing with double digit interest rates
- Generation X - born roughly between 1966 and 1980. This generation led the world into the internet age, luckily avoiding the pitfalls of having a social media account as a teenager
- Millennials - born roughly between 1981 and 1995. This generation has mostly grown up with the world at the finger tips, with Google able to answer their every question and new friends just 1 swipe away
- Xennials - born roughly between 1976 and 1985. This is essentially the lost generation Y. This group is most likely to understand the modern world the best - having experienced both the pre-internet/smartphone world and post-internet/smartphone world
- Gen Z - born roughly between 1996 and 2005. This generation has just started to graduate university and is beginning to enter the workforce. - Gen Alpha - born roughly after 2005. This is our current population of children who are yet to be defined and analysed by those pesky market researchers…
Regardless of generational monikers, what will always be 'true' is that the young are no-good slackers and the old are out-of-touch dinosaurs. At the moment it is 'OK Boomer' and 'Entitled millennials', but soon it might be 'Sure Gen X' and 'Unreliable Gen Z'. It is too easy to use the generational gap excuse and write-off tensions between the old and young, but if the world continues to change quicker and quicker, this gap could get wider.