The next generation of young adults are coming of age in the job market and becoming consumers. They are known as Millennials. The Millennials according to most studies are those adults in the US aged 18-34. There are an estimated 75.5 million Millennials compared to Baby Boomers, aged 51-68, 72.6 million, making them the largest segment of the US population. These young adults by 2018 will be the largest segment of the working population as well. They are too large to ignore. The media reports they will be our smartest generation. I am not sure I agree completely. As a whole maybe so, but drilling down into the details this philosophy is greatly flawed. Let’s look at an example.

Millennials love their technology. You never see a Millennial without their Smart Phone. Some cannot survive without it. Every move they make needs to be Googled or chatted about on social media, so not to make a mistake. We can all agree this generation above all others is very tech savvy consumers. Is Google always the right answer? Apparently not.

For example, a healthy 28 year old male purchases an iPhone 7 which retails for $649.00. Gasp! I know that is out of date, but bear with me. They will purchase Apple Care for $99 per year for the extended warranty. This warranty carriers a $199 deductible. Then they will purchase, without thought, an $11 per month insurance for loss, broken or stolen policy through their carrier Verizon or AT&T. Now they have spent about $231.00 per year for a possible $450 claim payment after deductible. In which year two is a breakeven at best.

This same healthy 28 year old male Millennial could have spent the same $231.00 per year and purchased a 10 year level term life insurance policy at a $1 million face amount. Or $231 would purchase a $500,000 20 year level term life insurance or a $260,000 30 year level term life insurance.

Is the iPhone more important than life itself? Millennials could very well be our smartest generation in every aspect except math. Think about it.

“Doing something later is not automatically the same as doing something better”-–Meg Jay

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, grandfather of 2, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, employee benefit specialist, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger, author and team leader with over 30 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.