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Forecasting the Investing Habits of the Millennial Generation

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Forecasting the Investing Habits of the Millennial Generation

Forecasting the Investing Habits of the Millennial Generation

According to Accenture, millennials are set to inherit the biggest wealth transfer in history, amounting to an estimated $30 trillion over the course of 30 to 40 years.

While it’s hard to know what this newest generation of investors will do once the funds hit their accounts, there is no shortage of speculation about the habits and attitudes that will characterize their collective approach to wealth management as they age.

Surveying Millennial Investors

Today’s infographic is the result of a partnership with our friends at Morning Brew, a daily business briefing newsletter that skews towards a millennial audience.

It showcases the results of their recent audience survey, which had 9,800 respondents from North America and Europe. All respondents fell between the ages of 18 and 35, representing a group that roughly equates to the business leaders of tomorrow.

The survey’s aim: to get a peek at their current financial habits and attitudes towards investing.

Who is Investing?

Of the respondents, a majority of 68.1% is employed full-time while another 27.6% identified as students. The remaining 4.2% is employed part-time or answered “other”.

Financial goals for these respondents were quite diversified, as seen below.

Primary financial goal:

  • 23.8% – Earning a graduate/master’s degree
  • 21.5% – Buying a car
  • 19.6% – Getting married
  • 19.0% – Buying a primary home
  • 7.3% – Opening a business
  • 6.4% – Having a child
  • 2.3% – Buying a vacation home

It’s worth keeping in mind that people in this segment can be at very different stages in their lives. Those at the lower end (18-22 years) are just starting their adult years, while those at the higher end (30-35 years) can be quite a ways into their professional careers.

Portfolio Size and Composition

The vast majority of the cohort surveyed said they invest (89%), with the most common bracket of money invested rising steadily as respondents got older:

  • 18 to 22 years old: $1,001-$5,000 (31.7%)
  • 23 to 27 years old: $10,001-$50,000 (36.7%)
  • 28 to 35 years old: $50,000+ (42.0%)

Not surprisingly, technology was the preferred sector to invest in for many in the pool of respondents. Nearly half of people (49.7%) said tech was their favorite sector, with healthcare (12.1%), energy (11.5%), and real estate (9.9%) appearing on the radar as well.

Many sectors were underrepresented here, with financial services (5.6%), consumer staples (4.8%), and consumer discretionary (3.1%) having a relatively low amount of interest. Even worse off were the utilities, industrials, telecommunications, and materials sectors, which held virtually no interest (<2%) among millennial investors.

Millennial Investing Habits

Millennials rate their level of expertise in investing as pretty limited, with only 18.3% of respondents expressing that they had high confidence in their own investment abilities. This is a finding that is consistent with the growing financial literacy problem in America.

The respondents preferred the human touch of financial advisors (70.2%) to robo advisors (29.9%), and were lukewarm towards social impact investing with only 21.1% seeing it as being very important.

As a final exclamation point on the survey results, millennial investors were very clear on what was important to them, and it’s low fees.

When asked how they decide on a professional service, 42.4% saw low fees as a top three deciding factor. At the same time, simplicity (11.6%) and breadth of asset classes (13.1%) were well behind in importance.

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3 Reasons Why AI Enthusiasm Differs from the Dot-Com Bubble

Valuations are much lower than they were during the dot-com bubble, but what else sets the current AI enthusiasm apart?

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Two bubbles sized according to the forward p/e ratio of the Nasdaq 100 Index during the dot-com bubble (60.1X) and the current AI Enthusiasm (26.4x).

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The following content is sponsored by New York Life Investments

3 Reasons Why AI Enthusiasm Differs from the Dot-Com Bubble

Artificial intelligence, like the internet during the dot-com bubble, is getting a lot of attention these days. In the second quarter of 2023, 177 S&P 500 companies mentioned “AI” during their earnings call, nearly triple the five-year average.

Not only that, companies that mentioned “AI” saw their stock price rise 13.3% from December 2022 to September 2023, compared to 1.5% for those that didn’t.

In this graphic from New York Life Investments, we look at current market conditions to find out if AI could be the next dot-com bubble.

Comparing the Dot-Com Bubble to Today

In the late 1990s, frenzied optimism for internet-related stocks led to a rapid rise in valuations and an eventual market crash in the early 2000s. By the time the market hit rock bottom, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index had dropped 82% from its peak.

The growing enthusiasm for AI has some concerned that it could be the next dot-com bubble. But here are three reasons that the current environment is different.

1. Valuations Are Lower

Stock valuations are much lower than they were at the peak of the dot-com bubble. For example, the forward price-to-earnings ratio of the Nasdaq 100 is significantly lower than it was in 2000.

DateForward P/E Ratio
March 200060.1x
November 202326.4x

Source: CNBC, Barron’s

Lower valuations are an indication that investors are putting more emphasis on earnings and stocks are less at risk of being overvalued.

2. Investors Are More Hesitant

During the dot-com bubble, flows to equity funds increased by 76% from 1999 to 2000.

YearCombined ETF and Mutual Fund Flows to Equity Funds
1997$231B
1998$163B
1999$200B
2000$352B
2001$63B
2002$14B

In contrast, equity fund flows have been negative in 2022 and 2023.

YearCombined ETF and Mutual Fund Flows to Equity Funds
2021$295B
2022-$54B
2023*-$137B

Source: Investment Company Institute
*2023 data is from January to September.

Based on fund flows, investors appear hesitant of stocks, rather than overly exuberant.

3. Companies Are More Established

Leading up to the internet bubble, the number of technology IPOs increased substantially.

YearNumber of Technology IPOsMedian Age
19971748
19981137
19993704
20002615
2001249
2002209

Many of these companies were relatively new and, at the peak of the bubble in 2000, only 14% of them were profitable.

In recent years, there have been far fewer tech IPOs as companies wait for more positive market conditions. And those that have gone public, the median age is much higher.

YearNumber of Technology IPOsMedian Age
20204812
202112612
2022615

Ultimately, many of the companies benefitting from AI are established companies that are already publicly traded. New, unproven companies are much less common in public markets.

Navigating Modern Tech Amid Dot-Com Bubble Worries

Valuations, equity flows, and the shortage of tech IPOs all suggest that AI is different than the dot-com bubble.

However, risk is still present in the market. For instance, only 33% of tech companies that went public in 2022 were profitable. Investors can help manage their risk by keeping a diversified portfolio rather than choosing individual stocks.

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Explore more insights from New York Life Investments.

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