The members of Generation Y are sometimes referred to as the "Millennials" or "Echo Boomers". I mention this because Deloitte, the professional services firm, issued a report this week, stating that Gen Y is becoming an important part of the workforce, as well as the newest customers for financial services companies. The US insurance industry, for example, is looking to this group as an opportunity for growth and significant long-term opportunities.

To capture this emerging opening, Deloitte said, insurers should develop an understanding of the key characteristics of Gen Yers as consumers, which can help inform how the group will purchase insurance products as it ages. These issues are addressed in Deloitte's new report, 'Insuring the Catalyst-Customer: Generation Y and the Insurance Industry'.

Before going much further, a definition of terms might be in order. We all know about baby boomers. These are the hippies, love children and other softies born between the end of World War II and about 1962. The boomers have taken control of the world, which may be why things are in such an awful mess.

They were followed by Generation X, those born from about 1962 to about 1982. This is the nihilistic, punk crowd that saw no future for themselves, and how right they were. As we are learning, a world without confidence in itself is a non-functional environment. Be careful what you whine about.

Then came Generation Y, people born in the 1980s and '90s. A disclaimer might be in order here. Those who make these easy classifications are akin, in some ways, to people who write horoscopes, dividing the world's six-and-a-half billion people into 12 zodiacal groups, one of whom on any given day should concentrate on their stamp collections or plan to meet their significant other at 12.30 on a bus.

Deloitte, whose work is rather more reliable than that of the horoscopologists, says Gen Yers are "best described as: financial freshmen, independently dependent, practically motivated, tech-savvy, entrepreneurially spirited, diverse and socially mindful", according to Rick Berry, head of Deloitte's insurance distribution practice. "These characteristics are already beginning to manifest themselves in the group's rising expectations of customer experience, delivered substantially through product offerings, marketing and distribution," he said.

Some of the key findings of Generation Y's identity as insurance consumers include:

• As financial freshmen, Gen Yers have easier access to, and more information about, financial products and services than earlier generations did at this stage of life. However, when it comes to implementation, they are still novices.

• Gen Yers are self-directed and resourceful in conducting research on financial services products, but often seek recommendations from, and validation of, their decisions from family, friends and financial advisors.

• Tech-savvy Gen Yers grew up as "technology natives" and view technology as an extension of themselves, compared to baby boomers, who view it more as a tool.

• Gen Y's entrepreneurial spirit presents an opportunity for insurers to consider outreach about group and commercial insurance at an early age.

• Gen Yers are practically motivated at this stage in their lives and are naturally concerned with obtaining products and services at an affordable price.

The consumer world is becoming increasingly diverse on many fronts and Gen Y embodies this diversity, Deloitte said. "Because it occupies the leading edge of technology and other marketplace changes, the Gen Y customer base serves as an effective indicator of the rising expectations of all customers," Rebecca Amoroso, head of Deloitte's US insurance practice, said. "Gen Y seeks flexible and customised customer experiences - a trend that is already influencing older demographics."

So, if you see a generation Y-type person, give them a hug, why don't you, and maybe they will influence you in ways you cannot imagine.

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A number of readers have written to ask how my apartment in London is coming along. I should stress first that I live in Bermuda; the flat is merely for my retirement. I do not address this matter often in this space, since one reader wrote to say that he has no interest in anyone's personal affairs, especially mine. Probably a Generation Xer.

The flat is decorated, curThe flat is decorated, curtained and carpeted. Ten days ago, about 200 boxes containing my worldly junk were delivered. The living room looks like the final scene in the first Indiana Jones movie.

My way is to approach things head on, believing that I can do anything if I just believe I can do it. So I thought I might do a year's unpacking, sorting and organising in, say, 24 hours. By the end of an essentially pointless day and a half, I had damaged myself, developed a headache that took four days to diminish and much longer to actually go away. I required and sought medical attention. Have you heard the phrase "pace yourself"? I haven't.

Home ownership - and here, perhaps, we approach a more universal topic - is an extraordinary sensation. A lifetime of renting, which was at the time the only decision I could make, taught me to put up with whatever hand I was dealt and not "invest" in improving a landlord's property.

I have decorated rented space, but only lightly, and usually in the manner least offensive, never to my own taste.

Yet here I am choosing paint colours and furniture to suit only me. Me, me, me. I cannot say I am taking care of my own apartment any differently from the way I have always looked after landlords' properties, but it produces a different feeling. Pride of ownership, it must be.

Not all of us can, or would want to, own our own homes. Renting can be a sensible alternative, or in many cases, the only alternative. But I will tell you: no matter how old you are, having a little corner of this world that is yours and yours alone sure is sweet.