The Rise of Millennial Investors: What The Future Of Investing Looks Like
Millennial investors are a new kind of investor. Born between 1981 and 1996, these individuals are changing the norms when it comes to investing. They want investment opportunities to be at their fingerprints (literally), some get financial and business advice from viral TikToks, and most of them believe and want their investment decisions to make a societal impact.
Up until now, Millennials, as a generation, have always got a bad rap, especially from their older peers. Millennials have been associated with various stereotypes like being entitled, self-centered, spoiled, and lazy. But, as Millennials are now the grownups, they are proving the contrary.
They are bright, ambitious people with a strong focus on building wealth through investment. But, it’s not just the money that matters for them. Millennials also care about the greater good.
Keep reading below to find out more about how Millennials have become today’s investors and why they manage their money differently than older generations.
Millennials invest earlier than their parents did.
Back in the days, before technology and globalization became a real widespread thing, it was simply strange to see someone in their 20’s or 30’s join the investment environment. That was a reality back then because the investment territory was simply inaccessible for newcomers and novices in money management. Not anymore! These high barriers to enter the investing world have been lifted, and so it became terrain friendly to everyone, both pros, and beginners.
But, this reality didn’t simply change overnight. Technology, development, and Millennials all have something to do with this change.
With Millennials breaking the norms to pretty much everything their older peers did differently, they broke this one too and entered the investment environment a lot earlier. Data shows that the average age of the Millennial investor is 28. And, 85% of Millennials don’t think that they are too young to be investing.
Bottom line: Millennials start investing earlier. But one can only wonder, “why?.”
There are plenty of reasons why including:
- Better access to education
- Improved financial literacy
- Access to technological tools for investing
This is everything Millennials had, and their parents and grandparents didn’t.
Besides that, Millennials also have a wealth-focused attitude. It’s not that their parents didn’t want to be rich, but they had a different definition for what it means to be so. Older generations saw a secure job, a home, a family-signs of financial success. In contrast, Millennials don’t want a secure job but a well-paid job, don’t want to settle down just yet, and they postpone the idea of starting their own family. So, financial success for Millennials is all about how big their bank account is and a lack of debt (60% of Millennials think not having debt is a financial success).
Millennials want to make a change with their investment decisions.
When you make a financial decision, do you think about the impact it has? If you’re a Millennial, you probably do. If you’re from a different generation, not so much. Research suggests so. Data indicates that 43% of Millennials are more likely to consider the impact their investments have compared to only a third of Generation Xers and only a quarter of Boomers.
So, no, if earlier you thought that Millennials only think about money, find out that’s not the case. They also think about the greater good.
Since they are the generation most pressed by environmental issues and are more aware of all the social inequalities around them than their parents and grandparents, they are more willing to make investment decisions that help the public good. That’s why they get involved in charitable projects and start sustainable businesses. What’s more, besides their attitude as investors and business owners, as customers and as employees, Millennials refuse to support companies that have unethical practices.
Millennials choose diverse and alternative investment methods.
Probably the most significant difference between Millennial investors and investors from older generations is related to what they invest in. In other words, they invest in different things.
More precisely, investors from older generations invested in traditional investment methods, like stocks, bonds, cash, and real estate. On the flip side, Millennials invest in more modern and untraditional things like cryptocurrencies, Forex, hedge funds, various commodities, and private equity.
One of the main reasons Millennials choose these alternative investment methods is that they have technology at their fingerprints (literally). They are familiar with and prefer to use technological tools and investment opportunities driven by the Internet and allow them to invest or trade at any time of the day, no matter where they are, with the best brokers from all over the world.
Take Forex investment, for example. 43% of the traders are individuals that are part of the Millennial generation, aged 25-34 years. This means that almost half of all traders are Millennials. Driven by improved financial knowledge, technical skills, and real-time access to information, these are all things that older generations didn’t have when they were in their 30’s.
Millennials are more careful with money spending.
You’d think that someone whose goal is to get rich would not be that cautious about how they are spending them. Well, that’s not the case when it comes to Millennials, at least.
Millennials, in fact, are more cautious with money spending and investing than their parents and grandparents were. Researchers suggest that two factors drive this awareness for how they spend and invest money:
- Millennials live in a fast-changing world that offers far less stability than older generations experienced in terms of income and jobs.
- Millennials are the kids of those parents who struggled financially during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.
It seems that Millennial investors put risk in perspective a lot more than their older peers did when it comes to investments. And, considering the two reasons mentioned above, who could blame them?