This is an encouraging story: having watched the repeated boom/bust of increasingly rigged financial markets the past 15 years, recent research finds that 20 and 30 somethings today want little to do with equities, and trust no one when it comes to money. 4 in 10, said that they prefer building up savings in cash.
This is how generational cycles move full circle. Having seen their parents repeatedly burned by bubble pricing and financial sales firms, millennials have developed a very healthy loathing and aversion to scams and “investment” brokers. Risk aversion is the perfectly logical response to present high risk-low return conditions, and a focus on saving more and risking less will serve well in developing fiscal strength and disciplined habits which can serve over a lifetime. It also will help spur a much needed consolidation in today’s cesspool of financial services. Finally a true road to recovery: stuffing the vampire squid back in the bottle for another generation.
“According to a survey from brokerage UBS, …the typical millennial investor holds more than half of his or her portfolio’s assets in cash, a stance more appropriate to retirees. In fact, the millennials’ fear of stocks more closely mirrors that of the World War II generation than it does either Generation X or baby boomers.” Here is a direct video link.