Banks
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.
Base Metals
The Top 10 Biggest Companies in Brazil
What drives some of the world’s emerging economies? From natural resources to giant banks, here are the top 10 biggest companies in Brazil.

The Top 10 Biggest Companies in Brazil
In 2009, the at-the-time emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China held their first formal summits as members of BRIC (with South Africa joining in 2010).
Together, BRICS represents 26.7% of the world’s land surface and 41.5% of its population. By GDP ranking, they’re also some of the most powerful economies in the world.
But what drives their economies? We’re highlighting the top 10 biggest companies in each country, starting with Brazil.
What Are the Biggest Public Companies in Brazil?
Brazil isn’t just one of the largest and most diverse countries in the world, it is also an economic powerhouse.
With over 213 million people, Brazil is the sixth most populous country on Earth and the largest in Latin America. It’s also the wealthiest on the continent, with the world’s 12th-largest economy.
Once a colony focused on sugar and gold, Brazil rapidly industrialized in the 20th century. Today, it is a top 10 exporter of industrial steel, with the country’s economic strength coming chiefly from natural resources and financials.
Here are Brazil’s biggest public companies by market capitalization in October 2021:
Top 10 Companies (October 2021) | Category | Market Cap (USD) |
---|---|---|
Vale | Metals and Mining | $73.03B |
Petróleo Brasileiro | Oil and Gas | $69.84B |
Ambev | Drinks | $43.87B |
Itaú Unibanco | Financial | $41.65B |
Banco Bradesco | Financial | $34.16B |
WEG | Industrial Engineering | $29.43B |
BTG Pactual | Financial | $25.01B |
Banco Santander Brasil | Financial | $24.70B |
Rede D’Or Sao Luiz | Hospital | $23.79B |
XP Inc. | Financial | $22.45B |
At the top of the ranking is Vale, a metals and mining giant that is the world’s largest producer of iron ore and nickel. Also the operator of infrastructure including hydroelectricity plants, railroads, and ports, It consistently ranks as the most valuable company in Latin America.
Vale and second-ranking company Petróleo Brasileiro, Brazil’s largest oil producer, were former state-owned corporations that became privatized in the 1990s.
Finance in Brazil’s Top 10 Biggest Companies
Other than former monopolies, the top 10 biggest companies in Brazil highlight the power of the banking sector.
Five of the 10 companies with a market cap above $20 billion are in the financial industry.
They include Itaú Unibanco, the largest bank in the Southern Hemisphere, and Banco Santander Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Spanish finance corp.
Another well-known subsidiary is brewing company Ambev, which produces the majority of the country’s liquors and also bottles and distributes PepsiCo products in much of Latin America. Ambev is an important piece of Belgian drink juggernaut Anheuser-Busch InBev, which is one of the world’s largest 100 companies.
Noticeably missing from the top 10 list are companies in the agriculture sector, as Brazil is the world’s largest exporter of coffee, soybeans, beef, and ethanol. Many multinational corporations have Brazilian subsidiaries or partners for supply chain access, which has recently put a spotlight on Amazon deforestation.
What other companies or industries do you associate with Brazil?
Correction: Two companies listed had errors in their market cap calculations and have been updated. All data is as of October 11, 2021.
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