It’s true that generations come and go and each one is unique – reacting and changing what previous generations have done over time. But it is important to note that the immediate and short term impacts of both Generation X and Generation Y have already become very significant.
Let’s start with Generation X. They have already introduced many products, innovations, memorable people and companies such as:
- Jeff Bezos (43) - Founder/CEO of Amazon.com
- Chris DeWolfe (40) and Tom Anderson (37) - Co-Founders of MySpace
- Michael Dell (39) - Chairman/Founder Dell Computers
- Pierre Omidyar (37) - Chairman/Founder eBay
- David Filo (38) and Jerry Yang (35) - Co-Founders of Yahoo
- Larry Page (35) and Sergey Brin (35) - Co-Founders of Google
- Jeffrey Citron (34) - Chairman/CEO/Co-Founder of Vonage
- Marc Andreessen (33) - Founder of Netscape
They have forever left their Internet footprint on society and business.
Due to the sheer magnitude of their numbers, Baby Boomers have created a bubble that has shaped and will continue to shape the U.S. for the foreseeable future. As this group retires over the next 10-15 years they will transfer their wealth to their children – in most part to Generation Y kids and not Generation X kids. Therefore it’s not surprising that Generation Y is also referred to as the “Echo Boomers.” While they are different in many ways, they share some of the same values as the Boomers and are almost exactly the same in numbers; 78 million to 73 million, respectively.
The first Echo Boomers (Gen Y) turned 30 this year, so they have only recently started entering the business world in meaningful numbers. Yet we’re all beginning to feel their presence – in some cases in a very big way. It is most impressive when you consider that Web 2.0 leaders You Tube and Facebook (both involved in a sale in 2007 that created market values in the billions) were founded by Gen Y kids.
These transactions rocketed creators – all Echo Boomers – Chad Hurley (30), Steve Chen (29) and Jawed Karim (28), Co-Founders of YouTube and Mark Zuckerberg (23), Dustin Moskovitz (23) and Chris Hughes (24), Co-Founders of Facebook, into the league of multi-millionaires. In a matter of just two short years their companies, with video sharing and social networking, have changed the way the youth of today communicate and live.
Real Estate
Echo Boomers are going to be the next large generational event – the next “bubble” if you will. Their impact will be the same in magnitude as the Boomers’ was, but they will probably develop and progress much faster than the Boomers. So if you missed the previous bubble you get a chance to benefit from this next one.
Younger home buyers are a bigger portion of the total home-buying population than ever before, and they aren’t putting homeownership on hold for marriage or other life events. U.S. Census Bureau data shows that homeownership among the under-30 crowd has been rising. In 1993 less than 15% of people younger than 25 owned their own home but by 2006, 25% in this age group were homeowners. About 33% of people between the ages of 25 and 29 owned a home in 1993; by 2006 42% were homeowners.
The younger buyers’ appetite for homeownership is contributing to the recent resurgence of many downtown areas, as well as the increase in condo sales from 6% of the total market a decade ago to 13% in 2006.
According to the 2008 Swanepoel Trends REPORT these folks are widely recognized as a determined, daring and smart group that grew up in a period in which the Internet already existed. “They have surfed, watched, recorded, listened and downloaded just about everything they can and are now driving innovative change in the way we live,” says Stefan Swanepoel, author of the new 170-page report. (For more information read The Young, Daring & Smart in the 2007 Swanepoel Trends REPORT and Shattered Glass in the 2008 Swanepoel Trends REPORT.) |
