Summary

Changes in financial needs as consumers move through life stages can be powerful consumer marketing tools. But as the October 1994 and November 1994 MacroMonitor Marketing Reports noted, not all households traverse life stages smoothly, step-bystep, without incident. Traumatic life events—such as divorce, separation, illness, job loss, and death—can strike any household, severely taxing the household's financial strength, if not overwhelming it.

Financial service providers can help traumatized households in their periods of reversal and adjustment by understanding what the households are going through and by creating services and products that directly meet their needs. Helping traumatized households to recover and stabilize eventually provides financial institutions with more loyal and profitable customers.