While 46 percent of Gen Y expresses a strong interest in starting their own businesses in the next five years, 35 percent of Gen X respondents (ages 26 to 45) also report the desire to create new businesses in the same timeframe. The inclination to start a business in the next five years declines among Baby Boomers (ages 46 to 65) at 21 percent and The Silent Generation (over 66 years old) at four percent.
Generational Snapshot: Likelihood to Start a Business in Next Five Years
• Gen Y: 46 percent
• Gen X: 35 percent
• Baby Boomers: 21 percent
• Silent Generation: 4 percent
Unlike the older generational segments, the Gen Y, and to a large extent Gen X, segment poses an interesting challenge with respect to how they want to do business with their insurance companies. Most Gen Ys want to interact with their insurance company online, at their convenience.
Gen Y Snapshot: Importance of Offering Online Features? (Percent rating the item a 9 or 10 on an importance scale of 1 to 10)
• Online quoting: 86 percent
• Online customer service: 83 percent
• Online policy management: 81 percent
• Online payments: 79 percent
The study also found that the majority of Gen Ys (70 percent) feel that it is very important for their insurance company to be tech savvy. And, about two-thirds (67 percent) are active users of social media.??About the Small Business Opinion Poll?The survey commissioned by EMPLOYERS sampled 1,258 consumers. Data was collected through telephone interviews during the period June 24 – June 27, 2010 at the 95% confidence level. The survey was conducted by Infogroup|ORC.