When they get a bit older they will note that the market has gone up again.
I find many of the generalizations about my fellow millennial investors to be accurate honestly.... But there are some of us that have studied modern portfolio theory and do our due diligence when investing.
3
These articles are ridiculous caricatures of “millennials.” You can search for demeaning examples of any population. The whole article is just written as an entertainment piece appealing to whatever segment of the population that enjoys thinking millennials only know how to communicate through snap chat and emojis.
If you analyzed any 20s to 30s population through history you would generalize similar characteristics. If you could objectively analyze them I would imagine financial literacy hasn’t take a drastic plunge since the 90s. Although it is easier to search for any tweet that fits your article to substantiate your claims.
3
Americans are not very good at math, and of those who are good at math, very few are also good at finance. Don't invest what you cannot afford to lose. Don't sell into a panic, don't buy during a rush, never sweat the day to day if your hypothesis is longterm and always, always, always know what your fees are.
14
"New York Times Co. reported solid revenue growth for the fourth quarter, driven primarily by digital subscriptions"
-Yahoo Finance today
Now if one had thought through Trumps almost daily bashing of the failing New York Times they might have caught on to something. With his 4 bankruptcies he really doesn't have a clue about investments.
Nytimes is up over 100% from last year.
4
"For many millennials, the recent stock market gyrations have been a painful lesson in volatility"
Here's a list of a few other lessons for Millennials.
1. Don't walk/bike/drive and text/snap/tweet together.
2. Men don't wear buns in their hair.
3. Yes, tipping 20% for service is required.
4. Learn to patient in line, not everything is an app.
5. Respect elders, they created this world you take for granted.
6. VOTE!
8
Maybe the younger millennials will see through the scam that 401k's and IRAs are and will demand political action for enhanced Social Security and proper pensions. The stock market is a rigged, illogical casino, something that should be obvious to anyone who's been watching over the last decade or so.
1. Spend less than you earn.
2. Invest the surplus in a low cost index fund, like VTSMX or VFINX. Don't worry about market fluctuations - they don't matter unless you sell. Keep buying in instead. Don't invest anything you'll need within 5-10 years.
3. Being in debt is like being covered with leeches. Avoid it.
If you can do these three things, one day you will be wealthy. If your lifestyle matches or exceeds your income, you won't.
www.jlcollinsnh.com
9
If you have lost either 65% or 40% of your investment value last week you are not an investor, you are a speculator. The Times reporter might have asked these people what exactly their money was invested in to allow for such huge one week percentage losses. And if you believe that your future returns will average 13.7% or even 7.7% then I have a bridge I would like to sell to you.
10
This premise is dumb. As a millennial investor, I cheer the market falling. I hope we see a bear market for stocks these next ten years while I build my stash of stocks. The eggs taste better when the chickens are cheap!
10
As Warren Buffett and many others have said, be bold when everyone is fearful and be fearful when everyone is bold and you will do OK. A major selloff is a great time to buy stocks, the secret is to have cash available when the price is right.
5
Few experienced investors would regard this as a major selloff. We're waiting until the market is down 20-40%.
9
Who would have thought that a degree in anthropology would leave you unprepared to invest in the stock market?
7
My word, if you’re a millennial and this drop has caused you to take your money out of the market and put it in a savings account, we need to sit down and talk. Because you have zero financial knowledge. Start putting away 5% of your pay and just forget about it. In 30 years you’ll be rich.
6
As an older millennial, it's always nice to see yet another article hating on millennials. What you're not seeing in this article, however, is the absurdity of the basic proposition that, in order to have enough money to retire, you need to put a huge chunk of money you've saved over a lifetime of working AT RISK, subject to the whims of "the market" and the terrible human behavior that attends to it. Think about that. You've put in your work, over decades, but that doesn't buy you an ounce of security unless you put up those hard-won savings for possible plunder by a bunch of irresponsible investors and financial types. And, get this! In order to reduce the risk of your hard-won savings evaporating into the financial ether, you're expected to become an expert financial planner and investor. Yes, on top of everything else—finding and keeping jobs, staying ahead of an economy that constantly seeks to render your job obsolete, keeping yourself healthy, navigating housing, health care, family, etc.—you're expected to learn how to invest like a pro. Sound absurd yet?
The parade of Boomers chastising millennials for their investment illiteracy should take a step back and realize that they system they have bequeathed us is an abject mess. Rather than continue to play by rules that don't work in favor of the 99%, we should be asking how to change a system that any reasonable observer would deem a hellish dystopia.
7
That hellish dystopia provides increasing quality of life attributes that some millennial s might take for granted, such as this news platform. If you’re responsible enough to manage adult obligations like saving for retirement and checking your emotions amid paper losses, well, too bad!!
3
I would think that jobs vary quite a lot in what kinds of pensions they offer, some of which do a lot more than others to help a person have "enough money to retire." Do you think that society owes it to us to make it always unnecessary to take risks in order to have what we want? Personal investing is not rocket science and there is no need to do it "like a pro." There are any number of good books out there that tell a person how to invest in the stock market, say in a low-cost mutual fund.
2
"Millennials, a sprawling and diverse demographic generally said to be born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, are known for their passion for social media and an affinity for instant gratification."
Thank you for another hit piece painting 'millennials' as idiots.
Obviously there are plenty of people under 40 who are invested, have seen market corrections before, aren't panicking, are diversified, and are rolling their eyes at your click-bait article.
3
This is why I don’t use the term “millennial”. It’s impossible to ascribe an attribute to a group of 65mm people. It’s really the entitled, privileged top 5% of that group who exert a disproportionate influence that has the whole generation a bad rep (incorrectly). I prefer to call this smaller cohort “Avocado Toasties,” you know, the kind of spoiled brat who can afford to eat $15 avocado toast while ranting on social about how difficult life is for them.
3
"Investing?" How about the tough lessons you learn in a casino.
It's a good thing because it shows the outcome of what not voting because of her emails does.
Second - they're young enough to bounce back from losses while learning this valuable lesson.
I'm in 50s - it's how I learned, lol.
2
Lol "this isn't our first rodeo." Yes, you were around in 2008, but you were probably still sheltered in college without any assets invested in the market. And you wonder why every generation, other than yours, collectively rolls their eyes at you for thinking that everything is new under the sun. Can't wait to see the Times story about when millennials have to pay real interest rates. Puh-leaze!
3
The entire generation is disappointing at best. The one behind them are showing promise though....
They were all going to grow up to be rock stars and millionaires.
They're slowly finding out that that's not the way it work.
1
Why did Ms. Okougbo experience a 65% drop when this correction is about 10% (thus far)?
Millennials - stay the course, do not sell (!) - invest in diversified Index Funds if you can, and keep buying throughout your working life -- no matter what the market is doing.
7
Invest in ETFs and avoid professional advisor fees. To think professional advisors avoid pullbacks and swings is fooling yourself. And with a strong underlying economy, the recent drop is likely a temper to recent gains, not something showing fundamental weakness in the market.
4
If I said, "Hey everybody, stocks are on sale today"! Wouldn't you want to do some buying?
Fear is what causes people to sell when prices drop and greed is what causes them to want to buy when prices are high.
Young people have decades to let compound interest work for them.
One word of caution, bonds will not be an island of safety for a few years - the exploding Federal deficit will cause bond values to fall so bond interest rates can rise.
Be careful out there but don't lose your cool!
3
Well put. Financial markets are one of the few markets that violate common laws of supply and demand. When the price falls, investors seem to demand less as sell order volumes rise. A simple contrarian approach, with pre-established risk levels, would work well. But that requires emotional aloofness and the ability to disregard social pressure and short term gratification, behaviors that seems to be easier for Gen Xers than other generational cohorts.
3
This isn't anything new. Over a trillion dollars has been pulled from the market by individual investors since 2009.
1
These are classic mistakes made by inexperienced investors and people with zero personal finance knowledge of all ages.
Don't chalk this up as a millennial thing.
Signed,
A millennial who has saved up an emergency savings account after seven years of working, maintains a retirement portfolio diversified over various asset classes that I'm not touching for ~40 years (except to contribute and re-balance from time to time), holds to a budget because New York City is expensive, would never invest money for a known short-term need in anything other than a high-yield savings account or CD, would never sell to lock in losses after my investments decreased in value, and would certainly never own a cryptocurrency.
15
Millennial investors here are making the same mistakes that I -- a Gen X-er -- made in the late '90s.
The difference is that I had no one to go to for financial advice, and so had to learn by doing. Millennial investors can learn all there is to know about investing by taking any one of dozens of finance-related MOOCs, reading the most popular investing books that have risen to the top over the past 20 years (Buffett, Bogle), or even just hanging out on a Reddit sub like /r/financialindependence.
It seems that the problem the people referred to in this article have isn't a lack of money or experience; it's a lack of information literacy and -- dare I add? -- a general intellectual laziness.
7
The stock market is essentially gambling. Success there depends on when you get in and when you get out. Millennials typically want a sure thing - best to stay out of the stock market.
4
Interesting that my fellow millennials, who have been quick to embrace super-volatile cryptocurrencies that move 10-20% in a matter of hours, would be surprised by relatively small decreases in the stock market.
In the words of Paul, "I have plenty of time ahead of me to earn my money back and then more." Even if this is the end of a bull market, by the time we retire in 35-40 years these funds will have appreciated substantially. The worst thing we could do would be to sell now, lock in capital losses, and miss future gains (whose timing are wholly unpredictable).
2
As a millennial, if your retirement portfolio is dropping by 40, 60% as mentioned in this article, then it is not diversified enough.
If the company you’re funds are with offer target date retirement accounts, start with that. Focus on diversified low cost index funds. Consider a mix of cash, bonds, and stock.
Risk and returns go hand in hand. Consider your risk appetite. Take a long term approach, investing without the intention of selling until retirement. Consider taking a long term market view, 5-10 years to put current market levels and movements in perspective.
Avoid checking your balance too often, and being tempted to buy high and sell low. The market has boom and bust cycles, and has had them fairly often for centuries, if not longer.
6
While it is only mentioned once in this article, I do think that it's important to note that very, very few people get any formal education about saving and investing.
With each decade, the number of people who have to be fully responsible for their own retirement savings rises, and the best way to plan for retirement is to start saving early. A bad day (or year) in the market is irrelevant if you are continually adding to your savings over the course of decades.
We would all be better off if we spent some time teaching young people the basics of investing and gave them an understanding market history. Unfortunately, it appears a lot of young people are too conservative with their portfolios today, when falls can be made up for with future growth.
4
I'd like to know where all the experts are who predicted this latest crash. Why just a few weeks ago, the "experts" were informing us to invest, and hold stocks for the long term.
So much for "expert" advise from the "experts".
1
The survey from the AMG asset management company that states that millennials expect a 13.7% annual return surveyed millennials with over $250,000 in household assets (https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/04/20/962632/0/en/Millennial.... Not including this fact about that survey is quite misleading and makes it seem like all millennials expect an annual return of 13.7%, instead of rich millennials expecting that sort of return.
4
My father is 82 and has been in business for years; his single best piece of advice he has ever given me?
"You make your money when you buy it"
4
Oh shame. Poor disillusioned millennials. I will be sure to hug them on my lunch break!
1
How many times does this have to be said, your portfolio needs three things, diversified,diversified and diversified. A portfolio based on sensible conservative choices. Guess what long term it grows and produces reasonable returns. The rest is casino play if you guess wrong.
Everyone is a good sailor in a smooth sea. Or thoughts to that effect
4
most Millennials think that history started with the year they were born...
6
I'm having a hard time seeing what's so unique about "millennial" investors. All investors have trouble with market "gyrations", and there are many new investors who are experiencing this for the first time - including older people who didn't start investing in the market until later in life.
20
The best investment education I’ve experienced (at 44), is to plant a tree, or 100,000 of them.
I put a good share, 1/3 to 1/2 at times, into farmable land and planted forests.
The intangible lessons I’ve absorbed, and their effects on the other areas of my life, far outweigh the economic returns I’ll receive. I’ve applied this with much success in guiding an information technology company I founded nearly 20 years ago, when I was an ambitious, day trading, neurotic man-boy.
Dirty hands make clean money. By using my own physicality toward ‘saving’, I gained ‘sweat equity’. Stings and scratches, scrapes and soreness. Exposure to soil and bacteria.. sunshine and meeting the many plants and animals living at the margins of my existence. Savings made this way have a special kind of endurance. It matters none if the ‘market’ perceives the ‘value’ of this forest to be ‘worth’ 30% more or less.
It slowed me down - which in the increasing pace of our virtual worlds, can only be thought of as net positive. Planting and watching a forest grow helped me gain patience and perspective. Perspective was found in the quiet spaces and places. Contemplation aided by nature and the lesson of seasons, years and generations helped me learn to recognize enduring value.
With this grounding I find it rather easy (emotionally and psychically) to see crypto mania for what it is (and avoid investing money or undue attention in it.
4
This article is trash. Not all of us “millennials”, which somehow spans a generation of 20 years by your definition, are getting investment advice from Twitter and Snapchat and live in our parents basements while we pay off our student loans. What a waste of my time.
11
Dear Matt,
A reasonable opinion, except that all generations are thought of as being about 20 years long.
2
Baby Boomers had 1987 as their first real shock (they would have been between 23 and 41).
Generation X had the early 2000s (they would have been between 21 and 36) as their first real shock.
Both were legitimate crashes that were far worse than this small blip of a correction in early 2018 (which puts millennials at 20 to 38 for comparison to the other two generations).
So why do we keep coddling millennials again? A small "not-even-correction" and OMG (!!!) there's panic in the streets for their fragility? Please. I'll elicit real sympathy when they see a real crash.
An important addendum: the gentleman who's portfolio fell from $33K to $19K then climbed back to $24K? He needs to learn a thing or two about less risky purchases and riding a long term investment strategy. The only people experiencing swings that wide are invested in riskier investments, doing active trading, pushing into commodities or crypto or other things they probably don't understand, or some mix of all three. He'll learn.
8
"So why do we keep coddling millennials again?"
It has something to do with their unemployment rate (12.1% - nearly three times the overall rate) and the fact that they're burdened with huge student loan debt because the older generations are asleep at the wheel.
They are, sadly, the first generation without realistic hopes for a fulfilling future. The few millennials interviewed in this article are in the minority.
6
Who took out those student loans? Not the older generation. I have three millennials, all graduated debt-free. Don't take loans you can't afford...pretty basic economics.
1
Why did you just skip over the 2008 crash and recession? Those at the higher end of your current age scale (as I am) would have been 28 and we indeed suffered. This article is a poor generalization and your comment does the same.
I have little or no sympathy for cryptocurrency investors, but otherwise the millenials with 401k's and IRA's have plenty of the one thing that may matter most, tme.
5
This article was clearly written by someone who thinks they understand millennials but doesn't.
8
The single best piece of advice (contrary to some statements in the article): you only make or lose money on the day you sell.
6
They also thought the now relatively genteel Obama years (Gay Marriage, Environmental Gains, Etc.) were status Quo for government - Having no idea who Bush I and II were never mind Regan.
Many thought Trump and Hillary were equals not having any perspective. (NOTE - for one that little tax bill they passed that's helping spur this volatility?- it would have never made it past her desk. Ever. End of comparison. She also wanted to make Community College free. The list is endless on how different they were)
Millenials helped create this mess surely.
5
Millenials are becoming aware that its going to be hard to save for retirement when the banks don't pay meaninful interest and the stock market manipulators periodically abscond with their stock fund profits.
5
If you diversify among equities and bonds and stay away except for a small piece on “hot” stocks (no history, positive cash flow or dividends), you will do fine. If your portfolio goes down 40% as the market goes down 5%, no matter what diploma you have or when you received it, you did not learn very much there.
Tired of reading about the mild disdain NYT has towards Millennials.
We don't go around pointing out how the baby boomers have bankrupted this country, elected horrible people who have crashed the economy and are hopefully using any form of technology.
10
My comment may not appear to be relevant to the article. But, it does. Let me point out somewhat a larger picture. If the robo-advisers can attract investors, young or not, on stocks; the algorithms or AI for real estates developments and investments must draw keen interests.
Such a system presents a whole map of US with zooming in and out over, to mark numerous areas for potential developments, that can be resorts with casinos, a line of luxurious hotels, or membership golf courses. In short, all of them are combined for monetary exclusivities.
The image would excite not only investors, but surely many real estates clans. Except: -- in all those potentially developable areas, there are now very likely towns and cities where people live, or lands of nature to be protected for lives on the earth.
Trying to play this market is like trying to play a basketball game with your eyes focused on the scoreboard. You need to look away and stay focused on the game.
I have been investing in individual stocks for over 30 years. As a long-time investor, is have seen a lot of disasters and prefer to err on the conservative side.
Yes, my portfolio is down 4%, but the dividends that I use to live on are still coming in regularly - they're even increasing this earnings season.
If you want to be conservative, you have to understand the basics. Corporate finance 101: the balance sheet, the earnings statement, the cash flow statement. How do they relate to each other? What is a good or a bad capital allocation in each industry? If you can evaluate corporate financials, you can tell whether the stock of a given company is cheap or expensive.
Then you need to understand macroeconomics. How will possible changes in interest rates impact stocks, and what impacts interest rates? That's bond trading and central bank activities.
Finally, you need to understand how the market trades. Not to participate in trading, but to know when buying opportunities come along.
I am expecting a considerable further unwinding. I have target prices for companies I would like to own, and if they hit those targets, I will buy.
This is what disciplined, conservative investing looks like.
2
Well, aren't we special!
1
I own a small corner deli that serves sandwiches. I personally hope that millennials make back all their money and then some! Otherwise, I don't know what I'm gonna do with all this Avocado Toast...
5
Rule No. 1 in investing: don't lock in your losses out of fear!!
This generation has all the time in the world to ride it out.
27
On the flip side, I lost 90% of my initial investments in GoPro and FitBit over the last few years because 1. I didn't want to lock in my losses 2. I wasn't really paying attention 3. Small caps are risky
To state the obvious: Millennials - raised on participation trophies and spending most of their waking hours on 'devices' watching special effects videos and other amusements bearing little or no relation to the real world - have demonstrated cluelessness on a heretofore unprecedented scale. The Good News is that they have many exciting surprises ahead, and many will get starring or at least cameo roles in the new TV series, "The Young and the Stupid." A fortunate few are figuring out that there is nothing 'real' about reality TV.
3
Hey New York Times, how about you look at the age spread of the generation you are claiming is so "new to investing" and "shocked" by the recent decline. A good portion of us graduated from our undergraduate or graduate education right into the full bore recession, and have been dealing with the poor job market, lack of wage growth, student loan crisis, psychotic housing market et al. ever since. This isn't our first rodeo, and to write as though we as a generation are some starry-eyed, naieve rubes when it comes to the economy is disingenuous at best and generation-bashing clickbait.
29
Wow, that article is incredibly patronizing about new generations’ financial literacy (not even to mention the idea that “millenials” are known for their “affinity for instant gratification”)… The previous financial crash was in 2008, even the new generation has seen it or at least heard about it. Some people are clueless about savings and stock markets in all generations, and there are some very basic mechanisms that most people actually don’t understand (how many people would actually know what a stock is? How the different classes of assets react to say inflation and/or rates?).
Also if the current market swing is caused by new expectations regarding rates, the new generations are the ones who have the most to win about it, despite losing like everyone else at the moment. They are the ones who will lose the least because they have the least, but who will strongly benefit by being able to get higher returns on their future savings. 20% of $10,000 is actually not much if you get even 1% more over your life on your 401K and other savings. Not even to mention how a housing crash would be a boon to them.
7
If housing crashes prices will indeed be much lower. That will likely be offset however, by much higher interest, ie mortgage rates.
I have three words of advice: Unrealized Gains & Losses.
The market goes up, the market goes down, but until your holdings are turned into cash, it's all still unrealized. Watch your cost basis for a true barometer of performance. Even losses can come in handy at tax time!
7
When the "markets" go up Robber Barons win. When the market goes down Robber Barons win. They control and manipulate it.
You take your losses, Observer. I'll protect my money in IRA CDs at my local bank and credit union and through no-load U.S. treasuries for my retirement account.
I've never lost a dime.
1
@njglea
Your CDs aren't even keeping pace with inflation.
3
I hope average people, particularly retirees who depend on the income from their 401K plans, have moved their money into IRA CDs at their local bank and/or credit union where it is guaranteed to be safe or put it in no-load U.S. Treasury funds at T. Rowe Price or another reputable firm.
Your computer is no match for the Robber Baron's computers and they control it all. For some reason people have been convinced that they deserve to lose their hard-earned money if they take the risk of putting it in stocks. Pension plans, for the most part, are no longer available to workers and some people seem to feel that if they want to grow their money they have to take the risk inherent in stocks. That is how the Robber Barons got so rich. They steal OUR money every single day because we put in on their craps tables.
Not too bright. The house - in this case the International Mafia Robber Barons - always wins if they aren't tightly regulated. Always.
5
As in every generation, there are smart people and less intelligent people. The smart millennials, knowing that, over time, the stock market will rise, will continue to invest and will not withdraw their money. Their less intelligent peers will pull their money out of the market and miss out on the gains that will inevitably return. This is not a millennial phenomenon.
25
And the dumbest will pull their money out as it slides to, or hits, rock bottom, thus securing their losses.
Others who are patient, will regain their money eventually. Those that took it out never will
5
NO. The smartest will pull their money out - or never put it in for the Robber Barons to steal. Smart people will figure out how much money they would have if the Robber Barons hadn't stolen half the value of their 401Ks and homes in 2008. Today they will see how much they had at the top of the "market" and how much they have today.
Stop talking about "recovering' money and start talking about protecting it. One cannot protect their money on the unregulated craps tables that pass for "markets' any more than they can win at the local casino.
3
No one ever brags about their losses—they only remember their wins. The lessons learned will be soon forgotten, as they have been with every other generation.
Never sell into fear. Paper losses are on paper only. When you run for the exit, make sure there really is a fire.
“Anybody can be decisive during a panic; it takes a strong man to act during a boom.”
― V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River
“A businessman is someone who buys at ten and is happy to get out at twelve. The other kind of man buys at ten, sees it rise to eighteen and does nothing. He is waiting for it to get to twenty. The beauty of numbers. When it drops to ten again he waits for it to get back to eighteen. When it drops to two he waits for it to get back to ten. Well, it gets back there. But he has wasted a quarter of his life. And all he's got out of his money is a little mathematical excitement.”
― V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River
6
Any millennial who is shocked that the markets are capable of experiencing volatility is, frankly, a fool. I lived through the Great Recession. I assume that whatever money I have invested in stock is fantasy money that could disappear in an instant at some future point, probably right before I am about to retire.
3
I agree with the many others posting here that this is an inane premise for an article. Millennials are unusually well-versed in market volatility, having survived the crucible of the 2008 crash and the many years of volatility that followed. I began investing in 2009 and I learned many lessons on that roller coaster. Of course, that doesn't mean every person in our generation began investing before now, but come on with the sweeping generalizations. Another cheap 'Millennials' article that makes us all sound coddled and entitled.
16
Smart call to begin investing in 2009! I bet you're happy with the growth :)
4
Can we please stop it with the tired cliches about millennials, NYT?
Yes, the level of financial literacy in this country is abysmal, and so people think gambling in the stock market or Bitcoin is the same as "investing." The same as they thought houses financed with interest-only loans were a foolproof investment in spring of 2007. The same way they thought .com companies with zero actual revenue were going to make them rich in 1999. The same as people throughout history have made foolish bets as long as markets have existed.
I'd be interested in some actual hard data on our population's financial knowledge and how we can improve it. As is, this is just a few cherry picked anecdotes plus some lazy stereotypes.
18
We know. In the 2009 crash, we saw our parent's investments disappear. Then we had to find jobs in the worst economy of our lives. This is nothing new!
11
Then your parents sold at the bottom.
Those who rode it out had no losses.
3
Not only did those who stayed in the market not have losses -- they had gains.
An important caveat: Those who were already retired, who had to liquidate assets for income.
1
Ahhhh, gotta love capitalism.....massive wealth goes the 1% for the last decade and the markets keep growing.
But Paul Ryan cheers for a secretary getting an extra $1.50 per week that will pay her Sam's Club membership for 1 year and the markets drop billions.
2
The markets have gained trillions since President Trump's election! Any by the way, don't buy that $1.50 per week line, I am a person of average means living in an average home, and I now pay $171 less in federal withholding every month, and will still come out with basically the same return as I will under 2017 tax policy.
Be glad about the Trump Tax law, it will prove to be a huge benefit in the long run, and already is beneficial in the short term. This market correction is healthy, considering 80% of the S&P 500 are outperforming projected earnings. We haven't even had a quarterly report that shows the gains these companies will make via tax reform.
Why not be part of those of us who make money on the markets! Open an account, find some index funds with modest buy in requirements. Do yourself and your future a huge favor!
2
We do because it works!
There's an unfair element in this article of poking fun at these naive millennials, along with more than a little schadenfreude at things like expecting a 14% return and learning how to invest from youtube videos. I recall a time not too long ago when various bursting bubbles --- the internet boom, the housing market --- wiped out the savings of quite a few "savvy" older investors who were far more naive in their expectations of return on investment.
We should be talking about how to control these markets so that average investors, even those who learn from youtube videos, can participate in the capital and investment markets without being run over in the middle of Wall Street by computer generated investment algorithms. Watching the Dow or the S&P surge to astronomical levels gives everyone the impression that the rising tide will lift everyone's boat. It does little to caution about what happens when that tide inevitably recedes as the bots pump and dump at a rate millions of time faster than even the most talented user can type out a Twitter message or log into their account.
Millennials are not the only ones who need to learn how these markets work. If anyone thinks we are not all at risk riding this wave, then a history lesson is more in order than is one about smart investing.
6
So, as you mention, 2/3 of Millennials own no stocks and are thus completely unaffected by this. 4/5 of those who own stocks use fairly conservative strategies: In other words, they're taking everybody's financial advice and starting to save for retirement early. So, by my reckoning, this is affecting something like 7% of Millennials in any significant way, and you're treating that like it's the majority situation.
7
“I’m aware of the risks but I never expected this rapid and severe drop,” said Mr. Tehuitzil, a New York-based pediatrics assistant. “Looks like the down payment for an apartment I’ve been eyeing will have to wait.”
That about sums up the ignorance of investing in the stock market. You only invest money in stocks that you will not need (if you are a millennial) for the next forty or fifty years. You need a down payment for a house? That's what savings accounts are for.
You are welcome
7
The biggest mistake I made in my first three years of investing was to pull all of my remaining funds out of the market after the crash of 1987. My sister, who had the exact same amount in the market and same losses as I did, decided to stay in. Today she is quite a bit better off in retirement than I directly because of her decision. I got back in the market much later but still rue the day I pulled those funds out after the crash.
7
If you own quality investments, then you lock in your losses if you sell during a decline.
1
This is a sloppy article that values cliches over data. Bitcoin! Tweets! Robo Investing! Those crazy millennials ... Never mind our tendency to save more than our credit card-clutching parents and hold conservative financial views shaped largely by the Great Recession. I'd prefer an article on the boomers who are now living with the consequences of the insane financial tools - jumbo mortgages, lax banking laws, hyper trading - their generation has bestowed upon us self-absorbed trophy-loving youngsters.
12
Since when was cryptocurrency a safe investment - it's gambling pure and simple. If you want to invest then a mutual fund or two, perhaps a company with an actual product or portfolio of products that people need - say J&J or P&G - tey aren't sexy and woun't give you triple digit wins ina year but unless people stop eating, drinking, cleaning and generally living- tey will be around and making money. You can take a portion of your portfolio- do a ittle research, see whats undervalued and then invest (not gamble- invest) To lose 65% in a few days when the market was down only about 6% overall is interesting. To only be in 2 sectors Biopharmacy and technology is also short sighted. Whta these people eed to do is actually read about investing r hey, heres a thought- talk to a professional. That is their job every day 9-5 so just as you wouldn't self medicate because the internet says so, don't invest because soemone on the internet says so.(i guess that includes me, what a paradox!)
11
Cyrpto isn't a safe investment - but neither is investing in a super overheated stock market.
Investing isn't only about conserving capital, it's about the right balance of risk and reward. And the potential reward for cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is significantly higher than bonds and many stocks.
It seems most of the people in these comment threads can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to the macro trends around blockchain and borderless, governmentless, decentralized currencies and stores of value.
Talking to a professional is a great way to get ripped off in the long-run. There is simply no need to give somebody 1-2% of your assets every year for them to either follow simple personal finance concepts on your behalf or try to beat a market that is unbeatable. Keep that money for yourself. It adds up.
And buying stock in individual companies is also a fool's errand, whether you're a full-time financial professional or not. Even Johnson & Johnson can go out of business.
For your domestic equity investments, buy a low-cost index fund that tracks the S&P and call it a day. You'll earn whatever the market returns, you'll be diversified across companies and industries, you won't be charged an arm and a leg, and it'll take you all of five seconds.
1
The years have turned in to decades and I've changed from young to, well, oldish. I face retirement in 6 months so I should be the one panicking over this sudden downturn, right?
Nah. My investments are down exactly as much as the market is, about 5%. And my portfolio is about double what it was in 2015.
It's a boring way to invest but I've been doing the dollar-cost-averaging thing, and the low-fee funds that are tied to sectors of the market, and the annual rebalancing. Invest every month and leave it there. Be a steady-eddy and you will cross to safety. One day.
11
Amen.
2
These kids got lucky, they learned a good lesson from a rather brief and small downturn in the market, and they'll have decades before they'll have to use any retirement savings. The one-day sell-off was nothing compared to the stock collapse of '07, or various crashes before that. If they're smart, and they just hang on to what they've still got in the market, it'll be back up to its earlier value in a year at most.
Hopefully this will also teach them that cryptocurrency is not something to count on. It's backed by nothing, it has no inherent stability, and the best way to make money off it is buy into it early, then sell it off when the price goes up, before it collapses to zero. It's basically a modern Ponzi scheme, and it's possible to make money off a Ponzi scheme, but only if it's your scheme, or if you move fast and have a good idea of when it will come crashing down.
But this does bring up a great point, that nowhere in our education are we told about personal investment. I learned about it from my parents, and now have a financial advisor, but nothing in high school or college taught me anything about investing. I think it'd be a good idea if there was at least a semester course in high school, under economics, that dealt entirely with how people should save up for retirement. It's clear that anyone who retires with two grand in a checking account, and nothing else, is completely doomed.
12
Oh please, NY Times. Plenty of us Millennials understand the stock market well enough to know there are downs as well as ups. A lot of us graduated from college and began our adult lives during the last recession, remember? Most of us understand that our portfolios are long-term investments that we shouldn't stress over too much until we approach retirement age in 30 years. How did you find people like the guy who's using stocks for a housing down payment??
18
This article is a joke, right? What is next: “Basketball players shocked that it is possible to lose a game”? The market does not give participation trophies.
5
Putting your down payment savings into cryptocurrency is madness. Let’s hope this young investor does more research into homeownership than he did into investing in the market. Or the rest of his down payment savings could go up in smoke, too.
3
As a Millennial, I've got two words for you: avocado futures.
1
Probably not a good idea Ben. What with climate change and the breakdown of Mexico, avocados may have no future at all, like cocoa beans.
1
Was employed in the industry for about twenty years. For all the holier than thou pretention, it's just legalized gambling! My advice for millennials is to befriend some traders for the more influential firms! Traders can move a stock up or down over time, often irrespective of the stock's economic value!!!
1
It's easy to criticize millennials as being naive but at least they are saving and investing as opposed to half of baby boomers who have nothing for their retirement. Every once and while, it's important to be reminded that the stock market is not a sure bet and needs re-calibration. Apparently Trump has not yet learn this based on his, 'big mistake' comment. See millennials, you have learned a important lesson 55 years earlier than some people.
28
Why no mention in this article of the investment vehicle that virtually every sensible personal finance article has been recommending for decades: index mutual funds? They offer enormous diversification for even small amounts and avoid the perilous trap of believing that you can somehow outguess the markets, year after year.
4
You should check out this 'diversification'. A S&P 500 cap-weighted fund like SPY has almost 20% of its assets in just a handful of stocks like Apple, Google, and Amazon. If there were to be a tech crash, SPY investors would be severely hurt.
This article focuses on a few examples of people who lost a disproportionate amount relative to the recent drop (high-risk investors), but later states 80 percent consider themselves as conservative investors (likely a result of living through the 2008 crash as others have said). Rather than extrapolate from the few, it might be more accurate to make generalizations off the 80 percent statistic. That story might read "Millennials Unsurprised by Market Volatility".
6
I really thought that the NYT's was above these generalizing and baseless claims about "generations." This article belongs in the USA Today. My husband and I are millennials and we have well diversified investments that we contribute to each paycheck for long term savings and retirement. And guess what? Our friends do to.
20
I am a born loser, I have never made money in the market.Casinos are constantly sending me advertisements to entice me to come, I guess the word is out that I have never won gambling.To be honest I did win a jackpot of $1,000.00 on a Slot machine. I couldn’t wait to go back & win some more, but the Casino went out of business,People keep telling me that they have a great time losing money gambling. I guess there is something wrong with me , I get physically sick when I lose.My friend told me that now is the time to buy stocks as there are bargains after the massive loss. I told him I already made money because I didn’t lose anything on Thursday & Friday, because I didn’t have anything invested to lose. I finally learned and accepted the fact that the odds are against me, & if your not in the inside on stocks chances are your at the mercy of a ever vacillating market place.However, I wish all investors & gamblers the best of Luck, & if you are counting on luck you already lost your savings.
3
We in media need to stop glamorizing those who have struck it rich in nebulous enterprises, including cryptocurrency. Stop promoting a get rich quick mentality and be more realistic about returns and long term investing. I know it's not as cool as showing some 22-year old posing in front of his Lambo, but it beats pyramid schemes. I WAS happy to see NYT talked to a young accountant, who seems to have his head screwed on straight. More of that type of millennial, and fewer bloggers.
4
Look at why Dodd-Frank is under attack and what that might mean for your retirement investments. Your vote counts, too.
4
First, you do not lose money in a stock until you execute a sale in that stock. Losing money, as used in this article, are called paper losses. Someone lost 3% in one day?
Unfortunately Millennials didn't get to play the game of musical chairs in elementary school (I suspect too many law suits). That is the game where there is one chair less than the number of participants, who circle the chairs as the music plays. Then they rush to find a seat when the music stops. There is usually some crashing into each other as the kids panic to find a chair. This game will help them understand the concept of "when the music stops".
In the stock market this is called the big sell off. When the prices of shares of a company have prices that are enormous or unrealistic multiples of future or current earnings. Mulitiply this times hundreds and hundreds of companies and the balloon is filling.
The music stops when some big investors and funds say; this is too good to be true and start converting their paper profits to cash. Just like you don't have any losses until you sell the shares the same also applies to profits.
The sounds that the millennial will hear when the music stops won't be players finding a seat, it will be players trying to get out the door.
My advice? Learn to listen. Set goals and don't try to squeeze every penny out of an investment. People that bought Tesla at $30 made nice returns at $40, $60, $100, $300, etc. Don't be infected by greed. Diversify. Good Luck.
44
There is another scenario. Institutional traders can be taking big risks and getting margin calls, big margin calls. When that happens, they will sell off good stocks that do have realistic multiples, dividends and cash flow. Why? They know they will not have to take rock-bottom prices for companies like these. That is why stocks like AT&T, Chevron, and Altria went down with everything else.
Nice generation bashing there.
2
Didn't play musical chairs? I was born in 1990, attended elementary school from 1995-2001, and musical chairs were still a thing then. I think you have a warped reality of how old Millennials are. The oldest Millennials are near 40 now. Being lawsuit happy wasn't a thing in the 80s-90s. It wasn't until the mid to late 2000s that parents started becoming lawsuit happy. Early 90s kids grew up no differently from 80s kids; we grew up in a time when it was acceptable to play outside with no supervision until dark.
2
Key success concepts for retail investors.
Buy when stock markets are in the news about market lows. If you need to sell, do so when markets are in the news about highs. Think longer term. People tend to irrationally do the opposite.
Short term trading? Best left to professionals. Remember 60% of trades are done by machine algorithms these days - think super computers, at warp speeds. Hard for a "simple" human brain to compete.
3
What? The stock market doesn't just go in one direction? I had no idea that was possible... it's almost like I didn't understand what the fundamentals of the stock market were beforehand. Since I'm a millennial, I will be angry and despondent at others because things are not exactly how I want them to be.
1
This is not a coherent article on this topic.
How can the value of someone's investments "slump 3%"? That is well within the normal fluctuation range of just about any equity investment.
And Mr. Whited didn't "gain"or "lose" anything. The gain or loss won't take place until he sells his holdings, and their value at that point will determine the gain or loss.
As for the folks who "piled into cryptocurrency"... should we be surprised they don't have the clearest idea of how financial markets operate?
22
I agree. This article almost feels like some kind of scare tactic. Trying to take a market which has gained 40+% over the last 18 months and make it a negative. I'm not really surprised. This author should stick to other subjects.
2
I find people in general have very curious ideas about investing. CNBC was playing on the pantry at work and an analyst was suggesting your portfolio have the same percentage of bonds as your age. If you are 50 years old and need to realistically live another 40 years, you should not have half your portfolio in bonds. It leaves far too much market growth on the table. There seems to be a notion that you have to cash out your entire 401k balance the day you retire, instead of gradually draw it down over decades.
7
Stock markets are not predictable. That means that even the most experienced and wisest investors and financial professionals cannot be expected to know what will happen until it does. Living in such conditions of uncertainty is not acceptable unless one has patience, has plans for alternative outcomes, and the means to exploit opportunities and to wait out times of scarcity. Those with small amounts of assets will always find that stock markets are probably too risky for them to invest alone.
1
I'm a baby boomer with a millennial son. It's easy to roll our eyes and laugh at young investors experiencing their first setbacks in the market. These young people are no more self-absorbed than I recall myself being when I was in my 20s and set up my first mutual funds. Back then, I lived and died each time the Dow or S&P 500 jumped or dropped a few points. My advice? Play the long game. What goes up generally will come down...and almost always goes back up. I am a 'small investor' with 30+ years in the market. My advice to young people getting in the market: don't invest what you can't afford to lose and DON'T PANIC!! Stay the course!! Keep this in mind: when I put my first dollar into the market (via a mutual fund), the Dow was a hair under 900 points.
8
You're an idiot if you put your downpayment into cryptocurrency.
-Signed, A Millenial whose 401k is in index funds.
48
We're in the same boat, and I bet the last 18 months has you just as happy as I am, even with the correction and current volatility!
This article should have pointed out how remarkable the past 12-18 months has been. Millennials certainly can't expect this to continue.
1
All I can take from this article is the millennials used as examples here are extremely poor at investing. One example saw their portfolio dip 65% during the market correction. They then mention they will not likely invest in the markets moving forward....probably a good call if you lose 65% during a correction in which the market doesn't even dip 10%!
One recurring theme that drove me nuts about this article....YOU DON'T LOSE MONEY IF YOU DON'T SELL. The value simply fluctuates. Did this person see their account drop by 65% and sell off? I doubt it, and if they didn't, they didn't lose anything. Millennials have the advantage of being in the markets for the next 30-50 years. We have no reason to sell at any point until retirement, whether the markets are peaked or recessed. We stand to gain over time so long as we continue investing wisely (unlike the folks in this article), and we often stand to gain even more when markets dip. We simply get more shares for our money.
The theme of the article is these kids are sad about the market correction....well yeah, it sucked, but even with the correction the gain over the last year is 24.13%. If you're sad about 24.13% return over the course of 12 months, and 42.67% from President Trump's election to date, you're in for a rough road over the long haul. These markets of the last 18 months are not typical.
Quit crying, and quit investing in ridiculous stocks and currencies. SnapChat was mentioned as a win....down 15.24% from IPO!
8
As a fund manager, let me give a piece of advise to young people:
1) If you invest in the stock market hoping you will get rich, well....you are wrong.
2) If you have students loans and credit card debts: work hard to pay off your debts then start to invest when your debts are payed off. Trust me, you will sleep better.
3) Remind yourself that as soon as you put money in stocks, your wealth becomes virtual.
4) Spend money that you can afford. That’s okay to drive a crappy car.
5) When you will buy a house, buy it because you love it and not because you expect a future large equity.
6) Remind yourself that easy money does not exist.
32
Someone needs to introduce these kids to mutual funds, and quickly. Then all they have to do purchase into it for the next 30 years and wait. Day-to-day is meaningless to me, because I will be in the markets for the next 30-40 years. The trajectory is in our favor.
4
I have been investing in individual stocks for 30 years, and most people would call me rich.
However, I never listened to mutual fund mangers....
Poor dears, they need a 'safe space' to curl up in for a while in this big, bad. grown-up world.
3
Why pile on?
1
They need to use a mutual fund screener!
1
Every successful investor, really every great professional has made a significant, costly error in judgement. It is how they respond, overcome and improve in the next cycle that defines their character and capability. In the capital markets everyone is a genius in a bull market. Corrections happen and those not prepared or intellectually and emotionally strong enough retreat to consulting gigs. The market is better for their retreat.
Cryptocurrencies and bio stocks are NOT conservative investments !
As Millennials, You’re best friend is Time. Hang in there.
First, save an Emergency fund in cash savings of 6 months to cover your expenses or unexpected costs.
When you have that, begin to invest in stocks by Dollar-cost averaging (buying a set amount of stocks each month to balance out the gyrations of the Market) and purchase low-cost Index funds like the Total US Stock Market Fund and Total International Stock Market for diversification.
And if you have a 401K at work, start there to get that 3% company match. It’s like free $$ !
4
What in the world was Ms. Okougbo invested in that was down 65%? That would have been a good detail to include. Literally the only thing down that much was VIX-related etfs, or possibly some silly bitcoin-related penny stock.
4
She was investing in double zero on the roulette wheel. 65% decrease in value during an 8% correction is just asinine.
1
Welcome to the real world, millenials. It is not all about social media, texting, and partying. The economy is full of real risks and dangers, and you are not guaranteed financial success just because you got your college degree in art history.
2
A friend of mine majored in art history. He works for Google now.
4
Millennials, you have a long way to go in your investing careers and in your life (I hope). So a few lessons for people your age:
1. Downturns are a buying opportunity, so long as you're saving for the future and planning to be in the market a long time.
2. Cost averaging evens everything out. Investing a little bit every month means that you might buy at the top but also at the bottom. In the long run you won't lose, because the equities don't languish forever. Stick with it.
3. Have a little patience. EG: for my particular mix of assets of stocks and bonds the worst year was 1931 (down 24% in 1931), the best year was 1933 (up 33.9%). Look at 5- or even better 10-year returns.
4. On Black Monday, October 19, 1987 equities dropped 26% or so in a single day. Yikes! But by the end of the year, the market was up a modest 5%.
5. Just as you shouldn't put all your money in at one time, you shouldn't draw it out at one time. Little by little you'll be quite all right.
6. Listen to Warren Buffett: Nobody ever went broke betting on American business in the long run. I wish I could say as much for American government, which seems to have adopted the foolish idea that you can have a lot of services and pay very little. There's no free lunch.
7
Millennials who have money to invest? They should consider themselves the lucky ones.
3
Millennials freak out over normal things that older people all know about ... News at 11.
4
Everyone should have short money that is not invested in the stock market, so you aren't forced to sell stocks in a downturn. We have close to 60K in a savings account that isn't earning much but we need it for living expenses for a year. If you don't need retirement money until you are in your 60s you shouldn't sell. Stick to index stocks with Vanguard. FYI: During the 2009 market crash our financial planner pulled us out of the stock market. Yeah, it was scary to lose 500K in one week. They had lower risk tolerance than we did. Make sure your advisers have the same risk tolerance that you do or go it alone.
2
Never pay attention to daily fluctuations, regardless of how severe a drop may be. If anything, buy immediately after a huge decline.
The stock market, viewed in the long term, has averaged 6-8% annually. Yes there was the Depression, Great Recession, 1987's Black Friday and there will continue to be "market corrections", but in the long term... the American stock market rewards investors who do not consider daily or monthly gambling.
4
Regardless of how long we have been investing, we all watch market fluctuations with some nail biting. That being said, I'm surprised no-one advised (or they didn't figure it out for themselves) Millennials that long term investments shouldn't be pulled out of the market so quickly. This might be a good time to buy more. How amazing that there was a market history before the inception of Bitcoin! Wow! Check out those little graphs they have on Morningstar that show the lines going up and down over time!
A fundamental lack of understanding of the stock market and investing in general. They have no one to blame but themselves. Smarten up!
3
"I'm aware of the risks but I never expected this rapid and severe drop." If anyone is surprised by the potential for dramatic declines in anything that has the potential for high returns, they either ignored the risk or are woefully uniformed. The bigger issue is the fact that far too many are confusing investing and gambling (cryptocurrencies). Despite many foolish thesauruses, the two terms are not synonymous.
34
It's true we millennials like to push some fashion boundaries, but I take exception to the idea we are "woefully uniformed."
8
The kids in this article are horribly misinformed. If I were them I'd end up being embarrassed about this article.
1
My daughter's office of mellenials jumped into Bitcoin when it was soaring. These are the same people who love Bernie and want their school loans paid by the government. Yea. Time to grow up and learn that there is no such thing as a free lunch.
15
If millennials are into stocks for short gains, of course they will learn lessons about market volatility, the way all of us with investments do. Roulette players learn their lesson too.
The market has been a good place to put money for the long term. Otherwise (and even so), you're gambling.
The safest way to keep money is to spend less than you earn. If you have enough to invest some, gamble a little, then you're one of the lucky ones.
25
For these millennials, with relatively little money and a long horizon, the answer is steady investment in an S&P 500 index fund for their IRAs and 401Ks.
Stick the short term money in money market savings accounts and CD's.
Ditch the advisors, apps and cryptocurrency
2
They should have paid attention in American History class.
3
A few years ago it fashionable to write about how millennials might end up being a "lost generation" because of the great recession. We know about volatility. We know about crashes.
23
Also, this type of mindless, "the feast is never going to end" mentality is common among all kinds of investors, even columnists at respected news organizations.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/get-there/wp/2018/02/08/if-youre-not...
1
Incredibly deceptive article
Crypto currencies??? Really?
This is a millennial speculator, not an investor!!
5
Time in the market is better than trying to time the market.
18
Folks can describe themselves as conservative, but if you're 40 years away from retirement and you are freaking out over a week long stretch of market volatility, now is the time to consider what "conservative" actually means
16
I heard millennials appreciated experiences over material possessions.
7
It’s a good lesson, but for crying out loud don’t sell at the bottom. Hang tight, young whipper snappers (coming from a gen x’r). You weren’t going to spend it for decades anyway. It’s just ink on paper, and over the long haul it has always risen.
60
That was a big drop on Monday. But what are these people investing in and how?
I have two Vanguard equity-based mutual funds. My balance is down 2-3% this week. It’s still way up since 2016.
These kids should study up on two things: patience and dollar cost averaging.
I survived and thrived through the 2000’s and beyond by being patient, not panicking (40% of my portfolio disappeared!), investing steadily, and keeping a reserve of cash for short term needs.
15
I’m a millennial. I have a substantial 401k from years of savings with about 80% investment in stocks, 20% bonds and about 60% in the SP 500. Although I’ve lost some money over the last week, it doesn’t really matter when viewed from the last year. I’ve found that studying the historical trends to be comforting and to look at the big picture. Any millennial afraid of what is happening just needs to search “SP 500 historical trend” to see what’s going on and feel better. Money in the market should be thought of in terms of a 10-30 year perspective. They are NOT a way to quickly make guaranteed money. If you want to save money for an apartment, put it in a savings account.
80
Those of us under 40 can afford (one hopes!) to have a portfolio that is more aggressively tilted toward growth. That said, losing 40% in two days sounds to me like a portfolio that is too heavily invested in one area (stocks, for example).
24
Agreed. Diversity helps to diffuse any loss in the market.
If you are saving for an imminent goal such as an apartment downpayment by speculating in stocks and cryptocurrency, you need to learn some financial basics.
111
Perhaps if Boomers would have invested more in our education we wouldn't be so ignorant about these things. But you prefer tax cuts over education. Don't complain now, you are responsible for the situation we are in. Millennials have done their best working for wages that are a fraction of what Boomers and Gen Xers got.
How does one manage to lose 40% when the market goes down 5%? Did he literally invest in an ice cube under the Falcon Heavy?
136
When your stocks lose 40% when the market goes down 5% it means that you have insufficient diversification. Folks ought to invest in low cost, broad-based index funds. And you should realize that if you are picking individual stocks, you are taking unnecessary risks.
9
Likely because the only started buying into the market recently. It’s a 5% drop in the market’s overall value, but millennials didn’t buy into the market when it was founded and at 1% of its current value.
There's a lot of stocks on any exchange that are part of the stats when numbers are given. However, up here in Canada, if you happened to specifically own cannabis and bank stocks, you're average would have dropped 15-20%, compared with the "overall" loss of 5-10%.
“But concepts like portfolio diversification and long-term investing are less well-known, experts said.”
Give me a break. If this isn’t known shame on that person. Either you cherry picked the millennials for this article or they aren’t as savvy as everyone says they are.
37
"Millennials, a sprawling and diverse demographic generally said to be born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s, are known for their passion for social media and an affinity for instant gratification." OK no. What if we wrote "Baby Boomers, known for crashing the economy, electing terrible politicians who ruined the country, and for being unable to use technology....". What a terrible, stereotypical, incorrect way to write about the generations. NY Times I am disappointed.
187
I completely agree. The article would also have more factual support if it ladled out fewer references to "many" millennials/young investors/etc., and replaced them with "some."
I also hope this article doesn't attract comments piling on about millennials' alleged shortcomings -- usually from folks who (like myself) come from generations living in "glass houses."
5
I wouldn't be putting down the, "boomers," we have been putting up with you living in our basements, waiting for you to get your acts together.
As for electing terrible politicians? Well, you got us there.
2
We Millennials are more like our "Greatest Generation" grandparents than not. They were right, our Boomer parents were wrong.
While I realize some will disagree with this, I’m having trouble sympathizing. Millennials have been portrayed as suffering from stress, anxiety, anomie, and who knows why else. In actuality, the problem is that they’ve had it incredibly easy: no huge world wars, no massive plagues, no holocausts, no devastating financial catastrophes, etc. Now they discover that that investments don’t rise forever!!! How strange!! How awful!! Perhaps they should be assigned to live for a few months with the Syrian rebels, or possibly spend some time being ethnically cleansed with the Rohynga. It would certainly restore a sense of perspecive.
10
No devastating financial catastrophes? The Great Recession hit right as many millennials were graduating from University. Speaking of which, we face crushing amounts of student debt to get our degrees and stagnating real wage growth once we have them.
3
“No devastating financial catastrophes”?
I guess you could say that about the youngest part of the “millennials”, but the rest of us certainly remember 2008. Sure, probably most young people didn’t have enough in the stock market to have really felt the collapse there, but anyone who was on the job market for many years afterwards felt the effect of the financial crisis.
2
Actually, older millenials graduated into the 2008 recession.
3
Dear Millennial:
Diversify
Do not invest any money you absolutely need in the next 5 years
Growth rates of 13% and even 8% are totally unrealistic - 5% is awesome
Pay down your credit card debt and student load debt before investing
If there is a company match in your 401K or ESPP - invest at least the amount matched - more if you can afford it. The earlier you begin the more choices you will have later.
Stick to low costs funds and ETFs. Stay away from crypto currencies, gold and other fraud like easy money ventures
135
Yes. It's easy to think you can handle market volatility when you've never really experienced it on the downside. And sometimes it can take months or years to recover.
5
Dear Boomers,
Get out of our way and stop ruining our future.
Thanks!
3
No need to pay down load debt if the interest rate is low enough - mine is like 2% so it makes no sense to pay down quickly, instead invest.
2
I find it interesting how this article implies not only that millennials are fairly monolithic in their interests but also that their lack of stock experience makes them "shocked" at the idea of the stock market dropping so fast. While we may be younger, we did live through the 2008 recession. Believing that your stock investments are always going to rise in the short term and then being shocked when it drops suddenly is foolish. Of course, that belief isn't necessarily one that is constrained only to millennials. Better to keep an eye on your investments over the long term (which still assumes that stock prices and the market will always go up).
91
Exactly. I was 20 and studying economics during the last crash. My attitude towards risk for the next ten years was closer to my grandparents who lived through the depression than my boomer parents.
22
Ditto, and I was mid-20s and finishing graduate school during the last crash.
2
Surely it would be years, or even decades, before millennials need to draw money out of their stock portfolios. Worrying about the daily or weekly swings of the markets with regards to a retirement the better part of four decades away is pointless. Paul Whited hits the nail on the head - there's plenty of time.
14