Americans continue to rapidly adopt new financial behaviors

Our latest Future of Money Study was released today, and we found that financial behaviors have dramatically changed over the past year. There have been significant and ongoing shifts in work and retirement plans, in payment and purchasing behaviors, and in saving and investing. The study also uncovered generational and gender differences in the way people pay, how they invest and how they engage with financial institutions and advisors.

This new wave of research explored the longevity of behaviors that began in response to COVID-19, and its ongoing impact. Some key findings include:

Work, Making Money and Retirement

The study found that of Americans who are working, 36% are working more hours (compared to 13% at this time last year). Also, the number of people planning on taking early retirement (9%) and those postponing retirement (33%) are trending up due to the pandemic. As workers navigate these times, they are looking to both financial advisors and employers for support—from help with emergency savings to building wealth.

Spending Money and Payment Methods

The payments space continues to shift rapidly, but is beginning to stabilize for the first time since the onset of the pandemic. The Logica® Future of Money Study found Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and installment plan usage has grown significantly over the past year among Gen Z (22% say they are using more, compared to 15% in Spring 2020), Millennials (27% are saying they are using more, compared to 12% in Spring 2020), and Gen X (24% say they are using more, compared to 9% in Spring 2020).

Saving and Investing

Americans have been able to save more over the past year and are likely to invest more. Sixteen percent are putting money into the stock market more than before the onset of the pandemic (compared to 10% one year ago), and 13% of Americans own cryptocurrency, with 47% planning to own it in the next five years.

Seeking Advice and Guidance

People are looking to financial brands and advisors for leadership and guidance in times of change, with many speaking with financial advisors more often. Preferences surrounding delivery of financial advice are fairly evenly divided with just over a quarter wanting digital tools (28%), over a third wanting to talk to a person (39%) and a third desiring a combination of both (33%).

About the Study
The Logica Research Future of Money Study is an online study conducted among a representative sample of 1,000 general population U.S. adults and an augment of 200 older Gen Zers (16-23 years old). The study was conducted April 8 to 14, 2021. In-depth interviews were conducted by KNow Research to give qualitative depth to the quantitative findings.