"You can't say you simply market to women," Kate Healy told attendees of FPA Retreat 2013 in Palm Springs, Calif., on Sunday. "They aren't monolithic. Do you market to single women? Married women? By 2030, two-thirds of the nation's wealth will be in the hands of women, so you'd better figure it out."
To illustrate her point, Healy, TD Ameritrade Institutional's managing director of institutional marketing, said that stereotypes for single career women—that they are focused only on themselves—don't hold up.
"A large segment of this cohort is actually caring for another family member, as well as themselves," Healy said.
This slaying of stereotypes, and the business danger they present for those that engage in them, was one theme of her presentation, tilted "Marketing in an Era of Change."
"The same can be said of Generation Y," she continued. "The stereotype is that they don't show up to work on time, are always on their mobile device and are waiting for you to promote them. There's actually 78 million baby boomers and 76 million Gen Ys. That's a big generation, and most of them look like your baby boomer clients did 20 years ago."
Not only will they inherit $18 trillion from their parents, but they're not standing still; they'll grow their own wealth (along with Gen X) from $2 trillion to $28 trillion in the next eight years, she argued.
"People think of Gen Y as college kids, but the demographic actually tops at age 35. They're married with kids."
She noted that 86% of Gen Y does not want their parent's financial advisors, but 64% still rely on friends, relatives and loved ones for their financial advice.
