For the first time in human history, we have up to five generations alive at the same time. Which means that when we hit 60, it is increasingly likely that we will not be the oldest living member of our family – we will still be someone’s child. We will probably not be getting ready to pass our wealth down to our mid-life children, who will be supporting their own children. And, instead of handing the baton to the next generation in the labor or housing market, we will be racing against them. 

This is what the Ageless Generation is navigating right now: a traffic jam of generations. One that demands marketers stop relying on outdated assumptions about sequential lifestages and start asking new questions about intergenerational behaviors and decision-making:

– What new frictions can brands help alleviate when nearly a quarter of U.S. adults aged 25-34 are living in a multigenerational family house (a number that has tripled over the past 50 years)?  

– Who are the real influencers, when four-in-ten moms say they text with their adult child every single day? 

– And, with grandparents providing $172B annually in direct financial assistance and an estimated $731B in unpaid caregiving for their grandchildren, are Gen Alpha and Gen Z the generations that marketers should be obsessing over?

The CFO of the Family Enterprise

With the adulthood of three generations overlapping, brands must look, beyond the traditional B2C model, for ways to engage and support the multigenerational family enterprise. The Ageless Generation consumer is an individual, but they are also a family CFO actively subsidizing the lifestyle, healthcare, and education of their adult children and grandchildren. A recent Savings.com study found that 50% of all parents with adult children now provide regular financial assistance, averaging $1,474 per month (nearly $17,600 a year). This financial enmeshment ranges from buying the groceries and paying the cellphone bill for their adult children, to funding college tuitions and assisting with down payments. 

This dynamic is playing out in the dramatic uptick in multigenerational travel. According to AARP’s annual Travel Trends research, more than half of Ageless Generation travelers taking a vacation are planning a multi-generational trip. And in the vast majority of cases, they are the ones planning it and paying for it. 

*Note: It is important to acknowledge that the idea of a family CFO is heavily biased to the upper quartiles of wealth. That said, while lower-income segments of the Ageless Generation may not be funding luxury travel, the enmeshment of the generations remains true across the board; lower-income older adults simply sacrifice their own emergency savings to act as this financial safety net.

Build for the Intergenerational Enterprise Buyer

The Ageless Generation does not have the luxury of operating as an isolated consumer, moving predictably through life stages. Marketers need to adapt to engaging families as a B2B-style buying committee.

Rather than just viewing the Ageless Generation as shadow influencers to monetize, marketers should ask how we can support them. What new emotional, financial, and functional pressures are adult children placing on them? How does “parent guilt” drive their decisions, and does it actually intensify with age? What are the specific moments of friction that derail a multigenerational purchase journey? By understanding these dynamics, brands can design solutions, campaigns, and communications that genuinely relieve tensions between generations, rather than exploiting generosity. We can ease the friction for a grandmother planning a multi-generational trip, or create experiences that fulfill a father’s longing to connect and bond with his adult children.

We aren’t just fighting for a share of an individual’s wallet anymore. We are fighting for a share of life. And in the longevity economy of this multigenerational world, a share of life is a family affair.

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