America’s younger generation are more worried about the market than the hospital. According to a new survey from E-Trade Financial, Millennial and Gen Z investors are more worried about their investment portfolios than their health or ability to afford day-to-day living expenses.
The report found that 53 percent of Millennial and Gen Z investors said their top concern during the ongoing crisis was their investment portfolios, followed by 44% who market health as their number one worry and 43% who were concerned about day-to-day living expenses.
E-Trade Managing Director of Investment Strategy reminded in a statement, “Millennial and Gen Z investors have primarily experienced the 10-year bull run in their investing lifetime so it’s understandable to see portfolio concerns bubble up, but it’s important to remember that time is on their side.”
The survey was conducted during the first week of April among an online U.S. sample of 940 self-directed active investors who manage at least $10,000 in an online brokerage account.
According to the survey, 54 percent of younger investors said they check their portfolio at least daily, which is considerably more than the 29 percent for the total population. That number isn’t much of a surprise, however, as 58 percent of investors under the age of 30 stated they have been checking their portfolios more recently since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nonetheless, Millennials and Gen Z remain positive, as three in five said they are confident that they were making the correct decisions in their portfolio.
For all, this is a time to remember investing fundamentals and to keep long term goals in site. Since the March crash, the market has done an impressive job repairing itself, but past performance does not guarantee future results, and the market could switch direction again.
Looking at the long term, however, tends to push things in the right direction, even for millennials who may have entered the market during the 2008 financial crisis. It’s important to stay diversified and focus on what areas of the market seem to be pushing forward in these challenging times.
