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b"With\\xa0Jaana Remes, Economist and Partner at McKinsey Global Institute

We live in a rapidly changing world with global and technology influences and innovations becoming passe before they even get a chance to become the norm. In fact, the norm is a term that is becoming passe by definition.
Jaana Remes, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, says we are in a time of great flux regarding consumer spending around the world and, in particular, in our own national backyard.
The results of a recent McKinsey comprehensive survey revealed the three major groups that will be shaping future global consumption:

* The aging and retirement of the developed world
* China\\u2019s working-age consumers raised in post-reform China
* Working-age consumers in the US, the so-called millennials

The surprising takeaway from the study of this survey is that companies are focusing more and more of their advertising and promotion on the first group, the aging and retiring baby boomers, who will account for a much larger percentage of consumer spending than the present working-age population.
Even in the housing market, nearly half of all renovations are done by the over 55 group who, instead of downsizing or relocating to \\u201cGolden Pond\\u201d communities, are aging in place, in their present homes.
This shift away from the glorification and pandering to the youth market on behalf of companies can be attributed to the reality that many millennials and even Gen Xers are struggling financially. Unlike the boomers who came of age during a relatively simple and economically predictable time, millennials had to launch their careers during the difficult period of the last eight years and most of them may never reach the level of success of their parents\\u2019 generation.
Jaana also points out that this growing older generation, the over-60s with an ever-increasing life expectancy, will be different from those in the past due to several factors. One is an inequality between those being financially secure and those who are not, since this is the first generation that has had to be proactive about setting up retirement funds.\\xa0 In the housing sector, there will be more multi-generational housing based on ethnic diversity but also more single households due to the high divorce rate among boomers.
The full extent of the findings of the McKinsey survey can be found at mckinsey.com.
Read The Entire Transcript HereCollapse Transcript
Steve Pomeranz: You know I'm always reporting and discussing this vast changing economy and this fast changing world of money.\\xa0 Recently, I had Steve Case, the founder of AOL on the show.\\xa0 He made the case for a 3rd wave of the internet, describing how the pace of change is accelerating from the old economy to the new.\\xa0 There's some new information around, as far as the way consumers are spending and as the world changes and ages.\\xa0 To this effect, I'll ask my next guest, Jaana Remes, to join us. Jaana is a McKinsey Global Institute Partner.\\xa0 She's going to discuss a survey that they did, a comprehensive survey, which captured the real state of consumers spending trends. Welcome to the show.
Jaana Remes: Thank you so much, Steve, for having me.
Steve Pomeranz: First, tell us about this survey.\\xa0 Give us a good idea of what you guys did.
Jaana Remes: We are in one of those moments, indeed, as you said, where things are changing.\\xa0 We have had China's investment boom of the last 15 years come to a slow end.\\xa0 It's time for us to start thinking where the next wave of growth is going to come from.\\xa0 It really will have to come from consumers who are going to be the next wave of global growth.\\xa0 When we started to reflect on that, where exactly the consumers will be who will have the numbe..."