A printed report looking at millennials views on investing and the finance industry utilising Instagram story polls and Twitter polls.

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This report is born out of hearing many asset
management companies saying that they want to attract
millennial investors, but they are not sure what is putting
them off. There are many articles which try to answer
this, but is what they report correct?
With this in mind, I decided to do my own research,
utilising my own social networks to find out what
millennials actually think.
Laura Holland is the Social
Content Producer at Citywire,
managing the company’s
social platforms as well as
coming up with new and
engaging content.
report: social media cafe • investagram

4. 4
There are a few
discrepancies in
timelines among
different researchers,
but the majority seem
to agree that
millennials are those
born between 1981
and 1996. That would
make the oldest
millennial 37 and the
youngest 22.
something with a cause, as
reported in MarketWatch.
Generally, millennials want to invest
in companies that will make the
world a better place, and one big
no-no is fossil fuel companies.
Another major issue with
millennials is financial literacy. For
some it’s not that they don’t want to
invest, it’s that they don’t know
where to start, or what they are
looking at. One of the most
shocking statistics reported by
CNBC and commissioned by Wells
Fargo is that 20% of young people
have said they will never invest in
markets, and a whopping 53% said
they will never feel comfortable
investing in the markets. That’s a
BUT FIRST, WHAT
DOES THE MEDIA SAY?
WHO
ARE THE
MILLENNIALS
REALLY?
massive 73% who aren’t actively
considering investing.
And then, of course, there is the
legacy of the financial crash in
2008, something that weighs
heavily on older millennials,
according to another CNBC article
written earlier this year.
Are these the reasons why so
many millennials shy away
from investing?
There have been a lot of articles
out this year about millennials and
investing, and all of them agree on
one thing: millennials prefer to save
than invest.
Forbes recently reported that 71%
of millennial workers are saving for
retirement, either through their own
means or via a workplace scheme.
Forbes also reported that of those
millennials who do invest, they
invest conservatively (at 42%) this is
much higher than Baby Boomers
(coming in at only 23%), so this is a
risk-averse generation.
It is also worth noting that when
millennials do invest, it has to be in
report: social media cafe • investagram

5. 5
Millennials are the first generation to fully adopt the internet and all that
comes with it, including social media. The most-used platforms by
millennials are Facebook and Instagram, with millennials planning on
spending more time on Instagram. As it’s important to ensure the audience
we are using for the questions are also millennial, I have taken a
screenshot of the insights I have on my personal accounts below:
INSTAGRAM
Follower count: 2,669
TWITTER
Follower count: 3,922
Twitter recently updated its insights and
removed the age section, unfortunately.
UTILISING
SOCIAL
MEDIA
13-17
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
20%
42%
22%
9%
4%
1%
2%
Age range of my Instagram followers
report: social media cafe • investagram

6. 6
QUESTIONS
ON INSTAGRAM(Around 9-11% of my Instagram followers saw my story)
Earlier in the year cryptocurrency was still
very much in the news, and having spoken to
a few friends and acquaintances a lot more of
them have dabbled in this arena than in
traditional investing. So I was keen to see if
that was true of other millennials:
ANSWERS
Cryptocurrency: 3 votes
Long-term investments: 29 votes
report: social media cafe • investagram

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With cryptocurrency
apparently losing favour
as quickly as it had
gained it, I wanted to see
what millennials would
ideally do with their
money.
Everyone voted for
investing it, although
saving was ahead for a
good chunk of the time
this poll was up:
ANSWERS
Save it (ISA/Nutmeg):
9 votes
Invest it:
17 votes
ANSWERS
Save:
21 votes
Invest:
15 votes
So they would ideally
invest it, but what is it
they actually do? And
does it tie up with what
has been reported
in the media?
Short answer: yes.
report: social media cafe • investagram

8. 8
Another main talking point in the
media has been how millennials
prefer to invest in something with
a purpose and ethics, something
that will make the world a better
place, so I wanted to see if that
was the case or whether money
ruled supreme.
What is interesting about this
result is that older millennials and
GenXers within my audience
seemed more concerned with
high returns. Those around 35 or
younger were more interested in
the ethics.
ANSWERS
High returns: 15 votes
Amazing ethics: 30 votes
report: social media cafe • investagram

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ANSWERS
Yes: 11 votes
No: 24 votes
ANSWERS
Yes: 32 votes
No: 11 votes
The final Instagram
question was about
whether people felt
educated enough to
invest. This was a bit of a
landslide, and could have
some interesting
bearings on what people
should prioritise in their
digital strategy.
The financial crash has
also been cited as a
reason as to why
millennials are not
investing, with the oldest
millennials watching it
unfold in their early-20s
and the youngest
millennials growing up in
the shadow of it.
Interestingly, it
doesn’t seem as though
that is a major factor in
why millennials are not
choosing to invest
their money.
report: social media cafe • investagram

10. 10
QUESTIONS
ON TWITTER
I decided to ask a few questions on Twitter, as my
audience is a bit larger there. One of the questions
was very similar to one of the instagram ones.
As you can see below around 9-10% of my followers
saw my tweet:
And the results were pretty much the same as for
my audience on Instagram.
Impressions
Total engagements
Detail expands
Votes
342
15
9
6
report: social media cafe • investagram

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I then asked another question:
Do you trust the finance industry?
As well as getting the results of the poll, I also
received some comments.
CONCLUSION
From these results, it seems that the asset
management industry could do a lot more to make
investing more accessible to Joe Bloggs.
Plainsplaining the jargon could go a long way to:
a. rebuild trust
b. create new and loyal customers in millennials
Impressions
Total engagements
Detail expands
Votes
Replies
Profile clicks
359
23
10
9
2
2
report: social media cafe • investagram

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RESOURCES
marketwatch.com/story/some-millennial-investors-care-more-about-doing-good-than-making-money-2018-09-10
cnbc.com/2018/09/13/millennials-are-investing-but-some-may-be-overly-guided-by-emotions.html
forbes.com/sites/andreacoombes/2018/03/13/millennials-are-good-at-saving-but-investing-not-so-much/#21376bcf7266
thestreet.com/investing/three-reasons-why-millennials-are-still-terrified-of-stocks-14608989
cnbc.com/2017/09/19/millennials-lack-confidence-to-invest-wells-fargo-executive.html
cnbc.com/2018/08/01/why-millennials-are-scared-of-the-stock-market.html
report: social media cafe • investagram