How Sandwich Generation Is Driving The Economy!

The top 3 long-term aspirations of this generation provide for their children’s marriage, having enough for their own retirement and explore world/travel with 46 per cent worry about the future costs of their children’s education, 43 per cent concerned about the family’s healthcare

Recently a study about India’s Sandwich generation provided some very useful insights about their behavior and choices. The term sandwich generation was coined in 1981 by social worker and professor Dorothy Miler. It refers to individuals aged between 35 and 54 years. They act as financial providers, caregivers and emotional anchors to two sets of dependents – their aging parents and children.

Most importantly, this is the most productive age group of human life. This generation in any country usually plays a crucial role in driving the economy forming a significant portion of the workforce through their contributions to the workforce, consumer spending and key sectors like healthcare and education. They also form a core contributor in sectors like real estate, retail and technology.

Edelweiss life insurance recently conducted a study comprising of 4500 individuals across the country. The average monthly personal income ranged from 70K to 1L with a combined monthly household income 1L to 2.5L and average household expense of 55k to 70K. 60 per cent of them place advancing their career as top priority while 58 per cent place personal development (beyond career). 58 per cent of the women have either resigned or have been unemployed for caregiving duties at some point in their lives. Most prominently, their time starved with only 3 hours towards leisure on daily average.

The top 3 long-term aspirations of this generation provide for their children’s marriage, having enough for their own retirement and explore world/travel with 46 per cent worry about the future costs of their children’s education, 43 per cent concerned about the family’s healthcare costs and 39 per cent express lack of work-life balance along with declining health of parents.

When checking at the financial readiness in the short-term, only 40 per cent feel doing enough currently while more than one-third feel they should’ve started earlier and about a quarter feel they’re not doing enough. The figures turn differently with 39 per cent feel they should’ve begun earlier when asked about their long-term financial readiness. A same percentage of respondents feel they’re doing enough already while a little less than a quarter (23 per cent) feel not doing enough currently.

Some of the behavioral patterns include the most preferred mode of expense is digital i.e., through UPI at 38 per cent, with 13 per cent preferring cash. Another important aspect of the survey is the ability to repay the credit card debt. Paying the entire outstanding amount within the credit period stands at 52 per cent while 28 per cent of the respondents paying usually the minimum amount. 14 per cent often fail to pay the outstanding dues in time and 7 per cent don’t use credit cards or buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) tools at all.

Moreover, the survey finds that dependance on credit is high at 37 per cent using loans, credit cards, BNPL to fund short-term aspirations. Among those who said they either currently have a personal loan or are considering one in the next 5 years, majority cited lifestyle oriented factors like home renovation, festivities, wedding and vacation.

Almost about a third (29 per cent) have opted for personal loans with 55 per cent place home renovation as the reason for the personal loan. Almost a similar number of respondents (54 per cent) for use of festivities, emergencies, etc. with almost half (49 per cent) for higher education, 44 per cent towards medical expenses. About a third (31 per cent) for marriage expenses and over a quarter (27 per cent) for vacation or travel. While credit is providing the means and flexibility to address non-critical but important aspirations for the family beyond healthcare and education, easy credit access is modifying their financial habits, putting their long-term aspirations of living debt free on shaky ground. 43 per cent aspire to retire by age 60 while about a third (29 per cent) want to retire before 60 years of age, almost a quarter (22 per cent) retire after 60 years with no specific time and surprisingly 6 per cent don’t expect to retire at any age.

About half (48 per cent) feel they’re behind their expectations of meeting financial aspirations with about 40 per cent feel they’re currently on meeting their financial goals with 9 per cent feel they’re ahead and 3 per cent are yet to begin their planning. 58 per cent of the respondents feel they understand inflation and price rise while 64 per cent understand interest rate cycle very well. Astonishingly 46 per cent of them feel reviewing their portfolio regularly as they fear what they might find. About 50 per cent of them ignore financial news as they’re comfortable with their current investment approach. 52 per cent maintain status quo in their portfolio even when the portfolio is down.

The surplus is allocated equally between savings and investments with five top product categories as life insurance, health insurance, mutual funds, equity and bank FD. FD occupies the highest allocation post expenses at 18 per cent of the respondents. 17 per cent in MF and 16 per cent in life insurance.

(The author is a partner at “Wealocity Analytics”, a SEBI registered Research Analytst and could be reached at [email protected])