Investment Advice Every Millennial Should Hear

A Harris Poll was recently conducted on behalf of Stash, an investment app, and it looked at Millennials and their view on investing. The research showed almost 80 percent of Millennials are not investing in the stock market. Some of the key reasons they cited for not doing so? They feel they don’t have enough money, they don’t know how, or their student loan debt burden is preventing them from being able to invest.

Millennials, along with the real hurdles that exist in their lives to investing including staggering student loan debt, also tend to feel like investing just isn’t for them. They view it as something reserved for older people with large sums of money just sitting around.

At the same time, Millennials are doing themselves a big disservice by not investing their money, and they’ll likely find that they never have enough money for retirement, or building real wealth without overcoming their aversion to investing.

Below are some essential tips every Millennial should hear when it comes to investing.

Start Now

Millennials tend to have the attitude that they may invest their money further down the road, for example when they’ve paid off their student loan debt or when they’re making more at their job. Unfortunately, they can afford to wait in most instances. It’s important for Millennials to take the approach that now is best when it comes to investing.

Risk Isn’t Inherently Bad

Many Millennials saw their parents and grandparents lose a lot as the result of the Great Recession, so this is a generation that tends to be understandably more risk averse than ones before. However, one of the best pieces many Millennials can take to heart is that risk isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Risk can be what also earns the most reward, as long as you’re managing your risk in a way that’s going to work well for your individual circumstances. If Millennials are playing it completely safe by keeping all of their money in a savings account, that strategy in and of itself carries the real and definite risk of not being able to keep up with inflation over the years.

You Don’t Need to Be Rich To Invest

A lot of Millennials carry the preconceived notion that they already need to be wealthy to invest, and that’s simply not true, yet it’s keeping them on the sidelines. There are so many options, whether it’s investing in penny stocks or setting aside small amounts of money each month to invest in mutual funds. You don’t have to already have a huge nest egg set aside to make investing realistic or worth your time.

Time Is Your Greatest Asset

One primary advantage Millennials have over the generations before them is time. Even if you’re investing a tiny amount of money, over a period of twenty or thirty years it can be worth a great deal more. Use that time in your favor as a Millennial investor. Start now, even if it seems like a minuscule effort, and grow your investments and your wealth over the years.