Trends & Signals
By: Deanna Laufer
Explore the latest insights, thought leadership, and research from FCAT®
The Secret World of the Overemployed
February 6, 2024
Working multiple jobs is nothing new. To make ends meet, or boost their savings cushion, more than 8 million Americans work extra hours, second jobs, and side hustles.1 But around 2021, as job availability soared and remote work ruled, the internet became inundated with stories of something new: full-time employees, mostly remote and in engineering roles, secretly working two, three, or sometimes numerous career positions at different companies.2 And it’s not always out of necessity. These overemployed, or “double dippers,” are often motivated by:
The Income Mosaic
January 25, 2024
Income has been synonymous with employer income for the majority of working-age Americans over the last 100 years. Most adults work for a living, and the vast majority of those who do work for an employer. But that’s changing. Employer income is playing a less dominant role for Americans as they’ve diversified their income sources into a mosaic of ways to earn money.
The Perennials: An Interview with Mauro Guillén
November 20, 2023
Because of increasing life expectancy, a greater number of generations are learning, working, and living together. And there are signs that they may cast aside the old model of sequential living--learn, work, retire--for one that that is more fluid and where it no longer makes sense to categorize people by the decade in which they were born.
Why More Americans Are Moving Overseas
November 1, 2023
The US expat community has doubled in the last two decades as Americans have sought a more affordable, and in some cases, better quality of life abroad. The rise in digital nomad visas and remote work could further boost this trend. Yet financial challenges remain largely unsolved for Americans abroad, making it harder for them to invest, save and plan.
What’s In A Name? The Mainstreaming of Pseudonymity
May 9, 2023
Writers and artists have donned pen names for hundreds of years. Now, the use of aliases has become commonplace across social media, gaming, and virtual worlds where anyone can explore facets of their identity and express their true selves using pseudonyms. With rapidly advancing avatar technology as well as a continued fear of public scrutiny, pseudonymity will likely further permeate into work, education, and finance where customers and employees will participate as their pseudonymous selves.
A Family of One: The Ascendance of Solo Households
March 27, 2023
Families have been the basic unit of social and economic life across cultures, geographies, and nationalities for thousands of years. That started to change in the middle of the 20th century, when a growing number of people started living alone for sustained periods. These solo dwellers, or soloists, include people delaying partnership to later in life, those choosing to remain single and live alone without roommates or family, as well as divorced or widowed adults who reside independently.
Gen X: A Mature Market That’s Often Overlooked
February 2, 2023
Gen X are in their peak earning and retirement savings years, yet this “forgotten generation” can be overlooked when it comes to the complexity of their financial needs. And yet, the complexity of their financial lives requires attention, perhaps now more than ever.
Designing Automated Systems That Humans Will Trust
May 17, 2021
Automation is moving up the value chain, taking on more “human” tasks like financial planning, factory floor management, and home health care. In response, companies need to reevaluate how to build trust in automated systems, considering both their reliability and the human-machine relationship.
Green Fintechs Innovate to Combat Climate Change
November 10, 2020
Just as COVID-19 has inspired a wave of invention across industries, a new breed of green fintechs are tackling climate change via financial innovation in payment, lending, trading, investment, and insurance.