Prudential Welcomes Babies Born Jan. 1 With $150 Checks

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The babies born Wednesday are the first members of Generation Beta — and Prudential Financial wants their parents to think about their retirement savings.

Members of Generation Beta will begin to turn 70 on New Year's Day in 2095.

Prudential is trying to get the attention of the Generation Beta newborns' parents by offering to send a $150 check to the family of each baby born in the 50 U.S. states or the District of Columbia on Jan. 1, 2025.

The Newark, New Jersey-based financial services company is also linking a broader marketing campaign to the Generation Beta concept. A new ad shows consumers of different ages wishing the newborns well, talking about what sets members of different generations apart, and concluding that the Generation Beta babies will probably be retired for a long time.

What it means: Clients who see the ads may be interested in hearing what ideas advisors and agents can offer members of their generation.

The generations: Demographers and marketers began talking about the "baby boom" in the early 1950s, in response to the realization that the end of World War II had brought about a big increase in the U.S. birth rate starting around 1946.

Interest in the idea of generations increased after the mid-1960s, when demographers noticed that widespread availability of birth control pills had caused a sharp decrease in the number of babies born.

Originally, demographers called the babies born in 1965 members of the "baby bust" generation.

Later, the demographers renamed the baby bust generation "Generation X" and started giving other generations names.

Views about when each generation starts and ends differ, but McCrindle Research, the firm that popularized the idea that Generation Beta is starting this year, uses the following definitions:

Baby boomers: 1946-1964.
Generation X: 1965-1979.
Generation Y (millennials): 1980-1994.
Generation Z: 1995-2009.
Generation Alpha: 2010-2024.
Generation Beta: 2025-2039.

Prudential's Generation Beta cash giveaway: Prudential is describing the giveaway as a "Beta Baby Bonus" program and using a sweepstakes firm to manage payment administration.

To collect a $150 check for a baby born on New Year's Day, the baby's parent or legal guardian must watch a financial planning video, upload an image of the baby's birth certificate and agree to the giveaway terms.

A family can collect only one $150 check per baby, but a family that had two or more babies born on New Year's Day can collect a separate $150 check for each baby.

One campaign message is the power of compounding: Prudential is emphasizing in program promotional materials that $150 invested today in accounts that achieve an average annual return of 9.75%, compounded yearly, could grow to $100,000 by 2095.

Most of the babies' parents are millennials or members of Generation Z. Prudential is using the financial planning video to explain to the parents how annuities can help the parents save for retirement and how life insurance can help protect families against the loss of a parent.

Prudential is also telling the parents that one great way to use the $150 check would be to put it in a Uniform Transfers to Minors Act account, a 529 college savings plan or another account that may help the assets grow free from federal income taxes.

The Generation Beta study: Prudential is using a new Generation Beta study to try to get parents, investors and policymakers to think about future generations' long-term needs.

A team at McCann Worldgroup created the study by conducting interviews with experts, setting up consumer focus groups and organizing a survey of 2,008 Americans. Many of the people who participated in the survey were grandparents, parents of people born in 2010 or later, adults who are hoping to have children between now and 2039, and childless adults who are not expecting to have children.

The survey included statements about what members of Generation Beta might be like as adults. Here's a look at how many of the participants agreed with some of the statements.

Many Gen Beta adults will have jobs that have not yet been invented: 86%.
Gen Beta adults will have more pets than children: 68%.
Gen Beta adults will face more financial uncertainty than their parents: 61%.
Gen Beta adults will be wealthier than their parents: 55%.
Gen Beta adults will eat lab-grown food more than farm-grown food: 53%.
Climate change is one of the forces that will have the greatest impact on Gen Beta adults: 48%.
Political instability is one of the forces that will have the greatest impact on Gen Beta adults: 35%.

The survey participants predicted that Generation Beta adults will need about $1.88 million to pay for a comfortable retirement.

About 48% of the parents and would-be parents predicted that their children will never retire, and 80% agreed that, "in an ideal world, parents would start saving for their child's retirement from birth," according to the study.

"The number one regret among current and prospective parents is that they 'didn't save more for my retirement,'" according to the study.

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