Atlanta: Where Making a Difference Means More Than Being a Millionaire

To many Atlanta residents, providing for family (76 percent), having a family (53 percent) and making a difference in the lives of those in need (43 percent) are much more essential to defining success than having money.

In fact, only 10 percent of Atlanta residents say having a million dollars in the bank is essential to their definition of success. This is in line with all Americans who also believe providing for family (73 percent) and having a family (52 percent) are more essential to success than being a millionaire (9 percent).

These findings are according to the latest Merrill Edge Report, a biannual survey of 1,000 mass affluent Americans that oversampled 306 Atlanta residents between September 6 and September 24, 2017. The report reveals significant similarities in how Atlanta residents and Americans as a whole define success and save for the future.

'This fall's Merrill Edge Report shows Atlanta respondents - and Americans across the country - are putting family first when it comes to saving,' said Aron Levine, head of Merrill Edge, who is based in Atlanta. 'We're seeing an emphasis on family in nearly every aspect of Atlanta residents' finances. Although every family is different, one thing is constant: the importance of establishing long- and short-term financial goals and creating a tailored saving and investing plan to best pursue these goals - whether it's something you do independently or with an advisor.'

Financial sacrifices

The desire to provide for family may be the reason why Atlanta respondents are willing to make financial sacrifices today to save more money in the long run. The sacrifices they're willing to make include cutting back on going out (38 percent), skipping vacation for a year (30 percent) and getting a side job (24 percent).

This family-first mentality could also be why Atlanta respondents and Americans in general appear to be risk averse.

Fifty-eight percent of Atlanta respondents view quitting their job without another one lined up as risky, compared to 54 percent of all respondents. Atlanta respondents also view taking a job without benefits (44 percent versus 39 percent nationally) and not investing in a 401(k) (39 percent versus 35 percent nationally) as riskier than many Americans do.

Recession predictions

Sixty-five percent of Atlanta residents predict there will be another recession in their lifetime, and 76 percent predict one will happen in their children's lifetime.

Perhaps these sentiments are driving respondents to be more hands-on with their investments, as 40 percent of Atlanta respondents consult a financial advisor a couple of times a year to check on their day-to-day finances. Forty-eight percent of Atlanta residents check their day-to-day finances online every day or several times a week.

For more in-depth information about the financial behaviors and priorities of mass affluent Atlanta residents and Americans, read the entire fall 2017 Merrill Edge Report here.

Merrill Edge Survey Methodology
Convergys (an independent market research company) conducted a nationally representative, panel-sample online survey on behalf of Merrill Edge Sept. 6-24, 2017. The survey consisted of 1,010 mass affluent respondents throughout the U.S. Respondents in the study were defined as aged 18 to 34 (millennials) with investable assets between $50,000 and $250,000 or those aged 18 to 34 who have investable assets between $20,000 and $50,000 with an annual income of at least $50,000; or aged 35-plus with investable assets between $50,000 and $250,000. For this purpose, investable assets consist of the value of all cash, savings, mutual funds, CDs, IRAs, stocks, bonds and all other types of investments excluding primary home and other real estate investments. We conducted an oversampling of 300 mass affluents in the following markets: Southern California, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta, and Phoenix. An additional group of 205 Generation Z respondents was surveyed. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percent for the national sample, about +/- 5.6 percent for the oversample markets, and +/- 6.8 percent for the Gen Z group, all reported at a 95 percent confidence level.

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