The following data is from our research, based on the World bank Findex data (a worldwide consumer survey) for USA vs. OECD countries.

Here are some facts that can explain Millennials investment behavior with some of our conclusions at the end.

Millennials stay away from credit cards

Millennials in the USA are definitely shifting from credit cards to debit and prepaid cards. See the chart below:

And the use of credit cards by millennials is the lowest across all age groups:

Savings

Millennials are much more focused on saving than older adults: 82.5% of people aged 15-24 saved any money in 2014 vs. 74.1% for ages 25+

Saved any money in the past year (25+) = 74.1%

Saved any money in the past year (15-24) = 82.5%

About half of millennials are making savings for education and school: 56.8% of people of age 15-24 saved for school.

Conclusions

Based on the results of the survey we see that millennials are very rational with their money – they are keeping away from credit cards and are massively saving for college. They seem convinced that one of the first and major investments in adult’s life is the education.

For individual stock picks, based on the latest data from OpenFolio, it is not a surprise that young generation prefers hi-tech sector.

Tesla, Alibaba, Amazon and Apple are among the most attractive stocks for young investors.  Most of these companies are yet to show their real potential, the same applies to Millennials.