CEOs like Steve Ballmer and Howard Schultz are saying that the economy has hit the “reset” button and that life in the future will be fundamentally different from the past. Trusted advisors can use the term with clients of computer-literate generations to vividly describe the changes they’ll have to make in their own behavior.

Two Stanford economists have confirmed what we all suspected: that an individual’s investment behavior is influenced by economic events when they were young. In appraising their appetite for risk and recommending investments, trusted advisors take into account whether their clients are depression babies, inflation babies or prosperity babies.

Most of us know from hearing the stories of parents and grandparents that the Great Depression was a searing and formative experience. Tales of jobs lost, fortunes vaporized, runs on banks and other woes instilled the G.I. Generation and their Silent Generation children with an ethic now lost: Live within your means, save for a [...]

For millions of Baby Boomers, self-employment and launching a new business are attractive late-life options. They typically require capital, and that capital typically comes out of savings. A trusted advisor knows his clients well enough to help them plan for such a non-traditional “retirement” alternative.

This study looks at brand loyalty issues with Boomers, assessing marketers, their marketing plans and how Boomers do, or don’t, fit into their plans.

The Chinese say fu bu guo san dai – “Wealth does not pass three generations.” If the G.I. Generation amassed wealth, and the Baby Boomers preserved it, the Millennials are on track for squandering it. One role of the trusted advisor is to advise Boomer clients on how to inculcate their much-indulged children with the need to save and invest.

Members of the Silent Generation usually waited until they died to pass on money to their children. Millions of Baby Boomers find themselves embroiled in their children’s finances before they can even retire. When helping a client draw up a financial plan, a trusted advisor understands that Boomers face very different financial pressures than their parents did.

Baby Boomers will prune their financial relationships as they become empty nesters and retire, concludes new research by the Retirement Income Industry Association (RIIA). Whom will Boomers find expendable and whom will they decide is a keeper? What criteria will they use to choose? The key word is trust.

Dispel myths of how different generations are perceived by other generations.

The Sun Life Unretirement Index tracks the changing attitudes and expectations American workers have regarding retirement. The Index forecasts Americans’ expected retirement age and gauges how economic, financial and societal forces are affecting working Americans.