New poll findings indicate that youth are still more convinced that the stock market is the best place to put their money, despite the fact that cryptocurrency is more popular than alternatives such as real estate.
In the midst of the high-octane GameStop period, researchers have attempted to investigate North American youths‘ impressions of the stock market, cryptocurrencies, and other investing opportunities.
The findings revealed that cryptocurrencies outperformed several other asset classes, such as real estate, with 25 percent of teens stating they would invest in cryptocurrency if given hypothetical funds, compared to 24 percent who would invest in real estate if given hypothetical funds.
Even while a majority of respondents (43 percent) believe that investing in the stock market is the best option, a significant number (37 percent) say they will refrain from doing so entirely.
These findings were derived from a survey done jointly by Junior Achievement and RSM US in mid-July of this year among a small sample of slightly more than 1,000 teenagers aged 13 to 17 years old who participated.
Three-quarters of respondents who had closely followed the GameStop tale believed that investing in the stock market is a wonderful way to make a quick cash, with only 20% believing that trading stocks is an excessively dangerous endeavor in general.
About 40 percent of respondents, on the other hand, continue to believe that equities can be a good long-term investment option.
The survey’s organizers have stated that they hope to restore confidence among teenagers that investing in the stock market is truly in their best interests, as well as to temper any negative perceptions they may have after witnessing the fate of GameStop’s retail investors – as opposed to hedge funders – during the short squeeze.
The following are the comments of Jack E. Kosakowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Junior Achievement USA:
“These results show that the recent ‘meme stock’ phenomenon could be having an adverse impact on teens’ perceptions of what it means to invest in the stock market. Given the fact that the stock market plays a major role in helping countless Americans achieve a secure retirement, it’s important that we help demystify it for the next generation.”
In an effort to influence youths’ perceptions of the stock market, Junior Achievement and RSM have promoted stock market training programs, which include simulated stock market experiences and a curriculum aimed to clarify the fundamentals of investing, among other things.
One of the difficulties they encounter is that, according to the results of their poll, an ever-diminishing majority of youths (51 percent) feel that the stock market is “‘a good thing’ for ordinary people.”
As previously reported by Cointelegraph, an increased reliance on speculative investments has been noticeable among millennials struggling to make ends meet in an era of stagnant salaries, an uncertain job market, and prohibitively high real-estate costs in many areas of the world.
According to Lee Han Koo, an economics professor at the University of Suwon in Korea, contrary to Junior Achievement’s takeaways.
The difficult socio-economic environment has fueled a “desperate” perception among many young people that day trading represents a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to break free from their insurmountable financial precarity.
