Long gone are the days of private stockbrokers hired by wealthy individuals to manage and advise upon their investment decisions. The internet has given rise to a new style of low-cost, self-directed investing and young people have taken to it with surprising enthusiasm.
Whether via a trading app or micro investment app, anybody with a smartphone and a few spare bucks can get involved with the stock market, buying and selling stocks at the click of a button. From first-year grad students to Uber drivers, it seems everybody has their finger on the pulse of the next big investment opportunity.
How Millennials are Revolutionizing the Investment Industry
Millennials in particular, most of whom are now in their mid-30s and developing an interest in financial growth, have revolutionized the investment industry. Nascent technology like blockchains and the introduction of open banking protocols have created an environment where mobile apps provide instant access to digital asset trading platforms.
Financial charts that were once the preserve of Wall Street bigwigs and economics majors are now being analyzed by stay-at-home mum’s and their teenage sons alike. It’s a brave new world of financial inclusion that would have seemed unbelievable only a decade ago.
Tading Apps
You’ve no doubt heard of Robinhood, the personal stock trading app that made headlines last year when a group of Redditors used it to drive up the price of GameStop stock and liquidate Wall Street investors.
Trading apps like Robinhood allow small retail investors like you and me to trade assets without needing the large amounts of upfront capital typically associated with stock market trading.
However, no matter how easy the app is that you’re using, trading is a risky business if you don’t know what you’re doing. You still have to spend a lot of time researching markets and studying charts to turn a profit, which is why the more risk-averse millennial investors choose micro-investment apps instead.
Micro-Investment Apps
Micro-investment apps have taken the world by storm recently, providing users with a more hands-off approach to investing. With a micro-investment app, you would typically automate small periodic investments or round-up your card purchases and invest the remainder.
The idea being that you barely notice the small investments, but over time, they add up to significant savings. This type of investing doesn’t rely on timing the market, so you won’t need any experience to get started.
The micro-investment app Bamboo provides a way to digitally invest in traditional assets like Gold and Silver, or your choice of several popular cryptocurrencies.
You can set the app to automatically round up your card purchases or create a dollar-cost averaging (DCA) plan that invests a set amount every day, week or month. This kind of ‘set-and-forget’ investing is appealing to non-financial minded individuals who want something hassle-free but more rewarding than a basic savings account.
Cryptocurrency
Bitcoin may have been around for over a decade, but cryptocurrency remains the most confusing and least regulated newcomer on the financial scene. However, that hasn’t stopped a new wave of young tech enthusiasts from making a killing trading digital tokens and NFTs on decentralized exchange platforms.
While the technology behind it all might be a bit much for the average joe, trading apps like Coinbase have made cryptocurrency investments accessible to anyone with a smartphone. No longer the reserve of college students buying drugs online, cryptocurrency is rapidly becoming a big part of our financial future, and governments are taking notice.
