The survey polled the upwardly mobile segment of Gen-X professionals (aged 25-34), households that represent $21 billion in annual potential revenue for financial services firms. 

 

Forty-two percent of respondents reported having a financial planning provider, and 35 percent of those said they found their provider on the Web. Of those without a financial planning provider, 15 percent reported planning to find one within the next year. The majority -- 11 percent --will turn to the Web to locate a provider.

 

In fact, the Web is Gen-X's preferred communication channel with their financial providers (47 percent).

 

The survey concludes that "by targeting these customers now, financial services providers have a chance to insert themselves into the Gen-X professionals' long-term financial plans, giving providers a leg up on their competitors who will begin to target the same households as they approach middle age. To maximize the value of the Gen-X professionals, institutions must focus on compelling Web-based messaging to attract them and on creating competent Web services to keep them."