Fifteen years ago, if you were asked to describe what it meant to have reached affluence, it is safe to assume that it would mean owning a house, as well as a car and maybe even something else - a boat, or summerhouse. But as the oldest crop of Millennials is beginning to reach affluence, I can't help but ponder about how this definition has evolved today, and how it might morph in the future, as this younger generation of affluents' consumer behavior appears to be much different than generations past.

Affluent lifestyles today are technology-enabled and media-infused. In recent years, their ownership of mobile devices went from niche to mainstream with unprecedented speed, and their overall use of digital media continues to rise.

#GivingTuesday launched last week, good timing for this time of year, when amidst all the commercialism, many of us start to think about giving back.

How luxury purveyors can capture ecommerce leadership

Algorithms rule our world. They are pervasive "people replacements," appearing everywhere and inside of most everything with a microprocessor. Where people used to diagnose illnesses, analyze foreign policy, make art, make war, buy media or write copy, now machine intelligence (thanks to the algorithm) does all of that. From your iPhone to your microwave to the elevator in your office, algorithms help us understand and navigate our world. They get us what we want and take us where we want to go-literally and figuratively.

In our November posting, we highlighted that Amazon was tied with Walmart for being the #1 store In America, with almost six in ten adults (59%) reporting they had made a purchase from it in the past 12 months. Notably, Amazon's reach was 68% among more upscale consumers - those with $75,000+ household incomes (the top 40% of Americans and the entry-level "affluents" to many affluent marketers), while attaining a 69% reach among those few adults with $250,000+ household incomes (the top 3% of American adults and entry-level "luxury buyers" to many luxury marketers).