It is hard to overstate how drastically the world of banking and investments has changed from the public's perspective. Consolidation has erased many decades-old institutions, and a variety of personal financial services (PFS) companies are branching out into fields as a means of extending their core specialties.

Meanwhile, the average working person now has a variety of finance-related needs and concerns that would not have been thought of a generation ago. Retirement saving is now seen more as an individual's responsibility – and research has shown that Baby Boomers are not nearly as prepared as they should be. Sharp increases in technological capabilities have also enabled consumers to conduct a variety of transactions without additional human intervention. They have increased consumers' expectation of control, but also challenged them to make assessments that were once left to institutions or financial advisers.

As a result of all this transformation, the traditional models often used to understand and group consumers – age, gender, geography, and the like – have decreasing relevance for personal financial services companies. Needs are dictated by a variety of factors combining in sometimes unexpected ways, including income; investment knowledge; beliefs, attitudes, and values; media used and relied upon; and habits of friends and family.

We believe this period extreme opportunity now exists. To keep pace with consumers' interests and priorities, PFS companies need to commit to ongoing programs that segment and analyze consumers in ways that are relevant for these days, and not the generations just past. Combined with a streamlined and informed approach to product and service development, companies can look beyond demographics to deliver the new services consumers need in short order via

• smarter, actionable segmentations
• more informed, targeted use of media
• leveraging existing rich databases within FS companies