Data from the 2006-07 MacroMonitor show 43.4 million Gen X/Y households: households in which the primary head of household was born after 1962 and the household is not retired. Gen X/Yers are better educated and are more willing to access the wealth of information on financial services and products available to today's Internet savvy than are their predecessors, the Boomers, and they have a significant emerging affluent population. Clearly, this rising Age Cohort should be top of mind for financial marketers who wish to establish brand loyalty and take advantage of cross-selling opportunities-yet it remains a market segment that is mostly misunderstood and markedly underserved.

The MacroMonitor shows that:

• Just 38% of Gen X/Y households say that they will rely on Social Security for retirement.
• In the past decade, younger households have shown significant increases in both their level of debt and their level of assets.
• Gen X/Yers are not receiving the financial guidance that they need or want.
• Although overall household use of the Internet for financial services has dropped, Gen X/Yers will likely continue to show growth in this arena given their ongoing financial maturation and comfort level with doing financial business online.
• 37% of Gen X/Yers have earned at least a bachelor's degree, in comparison with 34% of Boomers.
• 31% of this young cohort earns an income of more than $75,000.
• 19% of Gen X/Yers expect to see their income rise by more than 25% in the next year.