I'm in shock. On our youngest daughter's birthday next month, my wife and I will officially have two teenage daughters in our house. That's right, a house full of teenage girls. Once that reality hit my personal life, I started thinking about what teenagers mean to me professionally. And not just teenagers, but the entire Generation Y group.

According to Strauss and Howe, the leading demographers of our country, Generation Y comprises those born between 1982 and 2003. So they are currently between the ages of 7 and 28. The reality is if credit unions don't reach this age segment our movement will die.

CUNA's Environment Scan notes that credit union members' average age is 47. What's worse, the E-Scan says, "the percentage of members age 18 to 24 is small and getting smaller-6% in 2006 and 4% in 2008." In other words, while credit unions have been saying for years that we need to get young, the reality is we're going in the wrong direction.