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Young Americans Are Less Likely to Own Stocks
May 13, 2019
In the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, the stock market saw devastating losses. Between late 2007 and the middle of 2009, the Dow Jones fell more than 50 percent. While the market eventually recovered, climbing high above its pre-crash level, young American’s confidence in the market may not have returned.
A recent Gallup poll showed that just 37 percent of people under the age of 35 owned stock between 2017 and 2018. In the years leading up to the crash (2006-07) 52 percent of people in the same age group owned stocks. For those who grew up in the stock market boom of the 1990s, owning stocks seemed like a safe and sensible bet. Today’s young adults came of age during the Great Recession, it seems they remain leery of losses in the market.
