The great debate has gone on for years.   Who really handles the money in the home.   Is it the man or the woman in the home who ends up taking care of the financial bills?  Fiserv and The Marketing Workshop recently surveyed 3,029 consumers about the subject of banking and on line bill paying to represent the 90.5 million consumers involved with online banking.   The survey found two astonishing statistics.   One, in 2000 bills by paper check was the majority method where in 2010 bills by paper check is less than one quarter of the primary method of paying bills.  Two, that Generation Y is propelling the future business of mobile banking and personal financial management tools.

As an experienced professional and a founder of a financial advice and planning firm for Generation X and Generation Y, we know that the way households are run and business is done will transform over the next decade.   According to the Fiserv study, 80% of the households that have internet access use on line banking.  What is important to note is how the demographics are shifting on who is using the technology. “The face of online bill payment has changed significantly over the last decade,” said Geoff Knapp, vice president, Online Banking and Consumer Insights, Fiserv. “Early users were tech-savvy and tended to be young and male, as is typical with new technology. Now it’s moms and seniors and people at all income levels using the service. Online bill payment has become mainstream, and there’s still room to grow.”

In a recent informal oXYGen Financial survey of Generation X clients (born 1965 to 1979), we found that more than 65% of household bills are paid by women.    This is even a higher number where  the male partner may be the primary wage earner in the household.    So as mobile banking and person to person payments pick up over the next decade, it may be the guys who love the cool new technology that pick up on it first.   But my guess is that the women will really figure out how to make it work in their personal finances as we know who really runs the money.

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oXYGen Financial, Inc. co-CEO Ted Jenkin  is one of the foremost knowledgeable professionals in giving financial advice to the X and Y Generation.

Ted Jenkin, CFP®, AAMS®, AWMA®, CRPC®, CMFC®, CRPS®
Co-CEO and Founder oXYGen Financial, Inc.

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