Millennials a mix of pragmatism, optimism in managing their money

New York

THIS is the season of taxes, of NCAA basketball championship office pools, and of surveys showing how clueless Americans are about managing their finances.

April is National Financial Literacy month - the US Senate made it official in 2004 - and how millennials spend their money is the hot topic in the financial services world. They embody, after all, the next gigantic wave of customers. Two surveys released last Tuesday show that young people often turn to friends and family for money advice, rather than financial advisers. That's a habit financial firms need to change if they want to survive.