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Millennials on Investing, Debt, and Banking [Chart]

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Millennials on Investing, Debt, and Banking [Chart]

Millennials on Investing, Debt, and Banking [Chart]

Surveys reveal Millennials to have conflicting views on financial matters.

The Chart of the Week is a weekly Visual Capitalist feature on Fridays.

Millennials are the most confident generation regarding their financial future. In fact, recent survey results show that 65% of Millennials feel confident about their future finances, compared to 52% of Gen X, 50% of Baby Boomers, and 59% of the Silent Generation. This is not a surprising find, as one of the defining traits of the Millennial group is high self-confidence.

The problem is that this confidence seems to conflict with other survey findings.

In reality, it looks like many Millennials could still have a steep learning curve ahead of them in the financial realm.

Debt

The first red flag is with debt. Only 48% of Millennials know their credit score, and just 37% are confident in their ability to manage their credit.

Millennial student debt is at sky-high levels, and many are struggling to pay. Even the Federal Reserve noted that the delinquency rate for student loans in repayment is a staggering 27% in the United States.

Investing

Another potential concern arises with the generation’s attitudes towards investing and building wealth. Despite their confidence in their financial future, 46% of Millennials think investing is “risky”, 60% distrust financial markets, and a whopping 70% hold their savings and investments in cash.

While there are some reasoning for these numbers individually, as a whole they seem to paint a broader picture that Millennials are afraid of entering the market in any capacity. As a result, it would appear that they hold onto their money in cash while interest rates are at their lowest in human history.

Historically, the middle class has built much of their wealth through investing. While it is true that Millennials witnessed the failures of Wall Street first-hand during the Financial Crisis, it doesn’t change the fact that investing will likely play a key role in building their financial futures. Millennials do not have to only own stocks either, as there are plenty of market instruments, hedging strategies, and stores of value out there that can protect against market downside at any risk tolerance.

Further, 87% of Millennials feel empowered to make investing decisions on their own. While we would agree that investing for yourself can be one of the most rewarding ways to build a strong financial future, not everyone can be an expert in personal finance. That’s why people hire brokers or investment advisors.

When it comes to opinions on these types of professionals, Millennials have contradicting feelings. For example: 58% of Millennials are interested in robo-advisors, yet at the same time 64% say that a personal relationship with an advisor is important.

Cash and Banking

Millennials also have unorthodox views on cash and banking. As a generation of people that grew up in the digital age, 40% of Millennials would stop using cash altogether if cards could be used for all transactions.

Further, 49% would consider using financial services from tech companies like Google or Facebook. In contrast, only 16% of people in older generations would consider a similar move.

This disparity is part of the reason why bank executives today are unaware of the very technology startups gaining traction in the market, and that seek to unseat them.

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The Fastest Rising U.S. Housing Markets in 2024

As U.S. home prices hit record highs, which housing market is seen the fastest growth? This graphic shows the top 10 across the country.

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This bar chart shows the U.S. housing markets with the fastest rising home prices in 2024.

The Fastest Rising U.S. Housing Markets in 2024

This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.

The U.S. housing market has been on a tear, with median sales prices rising more than 40% since February 2020.

While cities in southern states like Florida have witnessed some of the strongest price growth, more affordable cities across the Midwest are also seeing growing demand as buyers seek out cheaper options.

This graphic shows the U.S. metros with the fastest price growth, based on data from Redfin.

Hottest Housing Markets in America

Below, we rank the metropolitan areas with the fastest annual median sales price growth as of February 2024:

RankMetroMedian Sales Price Growth
Feb 2024 YoY
1Pittsburgh, PA+22.0%
2Fort Lauderdale, FL+18.0%
3Greensboro, NC+17.8%
4Meridian, ID+17.3%
5Toledo, OH+17.0%
6Boca Raton, FL+16.4%
7West Palm Beach, FL+16.1%
8Orlando, FL+15.9%
9Milwaukee, WI+15.6%
10Alexandria, VA+15.4%
U.S. average+6.5%

Pittsburgh, PA soars to the top of the list, with median sale prices jumping 22% over the year.

Once known as a center for steel and iron manufacturing, the city has emerged as a hub for high-tech industries including robotics, software engineering, and healthcare. At a time when housing affordability is near record lows, buyers have flocked to the market thanks to its lower home prices. In February, median sales prices in Pittsburgh were $250,000 compared to the U.S. median price of $412,219.

Following next in line is Fort Lauderdale, FL with prices jumping 18% annually. Like several cities across the state, property values have boomed thanks to the state’s warm climate and low taxes. The state also ranks as one of the best in the country to retire. In 2023, it was one of the fastest growing states in the country, adding 365,205 residents overall.

As we can see, just one housing market in the West, Meridian, ID, is experiencing some of the strongest price growth in the country. Since the pandemic, many Californians priced out of expensive real estate markets have moved to the state due to its strong job market, low crime rate, and affordability. In fact, Los Angeles and San Fransisco are some of the top metropolitan areas nationally that people are moving away from due to remote-work trends and the high cost of living.

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