KEN COSTA: We are living through the clash of generations

Christmas  is traditionally a time for families and friends to come together, a gathering of the generations young and old. 

Carols, turkey and stress will inevitably accompany the hoped-for tidings of intergenerational comfort and joy.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that we are living through the clash of generations.

Boomers look at Zennials (Gen Z and Millennials) as feckless and entitled; they in turn angrily look at the asset inflation that has enriched the boomers and wrecked their ability to find affordable rented accommodation, let alone get on to the housing ladder. 

As I wrote in my recent book The 100 Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer, these divisions run deep and if not dealt with the consequences will lead to continued conflict.

It’s almost too perfect a Christmas tale. Ownership, often greed-driven, has characterised the boomer generation’s ethos. 

For the Zennials, today’s boomer bankers and wealth managers in their ivory towers on Bishopsgate are modern day Scrooges and Marleys. They are driving the older generation to examine their consciences and to consider the legacy they wish to leave behind.

This new generation of investors will prioritize shared over single ownership, and will demonstrate the altruism of Christmas all year round. Forty-five per cent of Millennials only want to invest in ethical companies and funds, according to a recent study by Prudential.

Seismic social, political and financial changes will result from what has been termed the Great Wealth Transfer. 

The Zennial generation’s newly acquired financial assets will be uniquely powered by tech, and these digital natives have clear priorities for how the levers of power should be deployed in society: care for the planet, justice and fairness.’

This handover is not tomorrow’s child. Already, my generation – the Bank of Mum and Dad – have handed over £85billion in assets to enable the next generation to pay deposits on their homes.

So what role do we boomers have to play in this Great Wealth Transfer? We have to ensure that this new generation, which is seeking to cultivate a socially-energised capitalism, can benefit from the experience of our years and be reminded of the importance of rewarding risk taking and the creation of value.

To avoid intergenerational misunderstanding, we need to learn a new way of communicating. 

I call this CO. Already, we are familiar with co-living, co-working, co-investing. But what we need is an embracing philosophy, one which centres on the idea that cooperating together will result in far greater wins than the losses of acting on our own. We need now to adopt co-destiny. 

The realisation that we need to help shape our destinies collaboratively, just as Scrooge opens himself up to compassion and kindness, redistributing his long-hoarded wealth more equitably.

Ken Costa is a seasoned investment banker, investor and author. The 100 Trillion Dollar Wealth Transfer: How the Handover from Boomers to Gen Z Will Revolutionize Capitalism is published by Bloomsbury.