Many millennials are perfectly happy making their own investment decisions, but that doesn’t mean they’re discounting professional financial help.

That’s according to Schwab Retirement Plan Services, which finds in a survey that 64 percent of millennials say they are very or extremely confident making investment decisions by themselves, compared with 47 percent of GenXers and 39 percent of boomers.

But they’d be even more comfortable with a professional helping them out; 85 percent said they’d be very or extremely confident if that were the case.

In fact, a whopping 93 percent of millennials would take advantage of a financial wellness program at work, and 64 percent feel their financial situation could use professional advice even though they’ve had less time in the workforce to accumulate wealth than other generations.

Millennials also stress more about money and issues related to it, with 35 percent saying financial stress has affected their job performance.

GenXers and boomers aren’t quite so concerned, with 18 percent of the former and 11 percent of the latter under financial stress.

But then millennials, even though they’re beset by the stress of student loan debt—24 percent of them specifically cite that as the cause of their financial stress—are more likely than older workers to put any money left over at the end of the month towards their 401(k): 34 percent of them report doing so, compared with 20 percent of GenXers and 8 percent of boomers.

The younger generation is also much more conscious of investment costs; millennials keep their eye on the fees charged for their retirement investments. Half of them (51 percent) say that fees influence their choice of 401(k) investments “a lot,” compared with 40 percent of GenXers and 38 percent of boomers who say the same.

One thing is true about all three generations, however: all recognize the importance of the 401(k) in helping them meet their retirement savings goals, with 86 percent of millennials, 90 percent of GenXers and 84 percent of boomers considering it a “must-have” benefit.

Instant Insights /

Confident investors, millennials still welcome financial wellness programs

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