Social Media is a huge factor in our life. It touches every aspect of our life. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, and Snapchat. They are now everywhere all around us. They are a significant factor in deciding Millennials and their social life. But what about investing?

If you are thinking, why is Ashutosh talking about social media when the heading is about Investment? I will analyze Millennials’ investing habits and what is affecting them. We will also talk a little bit about Facebook, Twitter, and Google as stocks. And Yes. The Final will be Snapchat.

Millennials: Who are they?

There are many views about whom to call Millennials. Demographers – One who is studying population and its groups based on different characteristics. – generally use the early 1980s as the starting point. Where it ends, have different views. Some say it will end in 1998, and some will take it as 2004. For this post, I am taking it till 2000.

First of all, I am a millennial, but not all my habits are similar to die-hard millennials. Yes, I am active on social media but not addicted. I had 2 Facebook accounts, 4 Twitter accounts, and one Instagram account, though I had YouTube but not much using it. WhatsApp is just a messenger for me. I don’t have any political views, except I Hate Donald Trump. I am different from the then big part of millennials in investing. Yes, I also love to support but not the way other Millennials do.

I believe that it is my luck, all because I learned to invest from One of the best investors on earth.

But what are the habits of Other Millennials about investing?

Millennial: Investing, Finance, Money, etc.

Before we proceed, let’s see some tweets which are related to the topic.

 

https://twitter.com/RealtyReturns/status/834607171098779651

I believe that Follow The earnings is the best tip one can give in the field of investing.

Before starting to talk about it, I want to clarify that investing has many different aspects. Earning money is one which is widely followed. But that is not one. The emergence of impact investing is proof, but again, I remembered the word of Rajat Sharma. There is nothing wrong with investing for impact, but don’t switch. Also, if you call your self-impact investor investing in a start-up, please check the business model. One of the top 3 reasons why startups fail is there is no need for the product. Sometimes Salaries are so high that they become a roadblock to success for many start-ups. It’s your money. You have the authority to choose where it is supposed to be.

All of this may sound good. But is this happening? At least in India, NO.

There is no such study in India. Manoj Nagpal, CEO, Outlook Asia Capital, mentioned that “HDFC tried to contact such study with Accenture, but nothing happened. So even though the AUM of Mutual Funds is increasing, it is difficult to say who is investing. Even though we tried to contact RBI about the recent issue of Sovereign Gold Bond and the investor’s age, they didn’t give it to us. The Mutual Fund Head always says it’s a great idea but is not going anywhere. ”

Though it is easy for exchanges and SEBI to conduct such a study, no one is doing it. In India, PAN Card and Aadhar Card have such data. Even E-KYC, C-KYC, or FATCA may give raw material for such study, which may help.

I want to mention Ron and his answer to one of my questions.

One more thing I found in India is that many Millennials are unaware of why they need to invest or when it needs to start. Most of their parents are investing in them. As many are scared of the market, it is an altogether different thing what Millennials need as per today’s inflation and what their portfolio looks like. The best example is Saina Nehwal. In 2016, she mentioned that she preferred FD overstocks. She also said that she INVEST in LIC (Insurance is generally called LIC in India). Shocking. When one star is talking like that, it’s stunning as there may be some people who are deciding their habits because of her. But, more important is she is Youth (Millennial ) Icon.

I invested in a car, two houses, two commercial sites. My CA and my father take the decision for my investments.
I have no investment in gold, land and stocks. I am employed with BPCL and I wish to continue. I will get pension from company. The company takes care of my health insurance too.

Part of Interview. It will not bother you when you are a high-growth investment for your life. So let’s ignore it.

Peter Lynch always mentioned investing in what you know, and it looks like my generation takes it very seriously. Though not in India, in the US, many Millennials invested in Snapchat IPO. The IPO sail through all because of Millennials. It looks like they forgot what Peter Lynch mentioned as a whole.

Earning can make or break your investment.

Snapchat: Landmark Case for studying Investing Habits of Millennials

Before talking about Snapchat and its IPO, please go through The Investopedia article and Tweet from Aswath Damodaran.

Snapchat Potential Future

After Quoting these two sources, I think I don’t need to mention anything else. But

I will close it by saying that Millennials, at least in India, are unaware. So either they are not investing even if having a source of income. Maybe they are investing less or in the wrong place due to the wrong way of thinking. Either their parents or their role model is making it wrong, or they don’t know they need one financial adviser.

Let’s prey that many Millennials understand it sooner and they will make it right.