How 9/11 scared millennials away from investing

With the 14th anniversary of 9/11 last week, millions of Americans reflected on where we were when those planes struck the Twin Towers. For a great many of us, that day is unforgettable, historic, an annual day of remembrance.

For those who were young, such as the millennial generation, whose members ranged from 4 to 21 years of age on that day, it may even hold more significance. In fact, many experts believe that it and other large-looming events in recent years have played a critical role in molding our psyches about what we value and how we live. This doesn’t diminish in any way what other generations have been through. But neither can it be denied that our formative years have been filled with big, scary events: the dot-com bubble of 1997-2000, 9/11, three wars (two in Iraq and one in Afghanistan) and the 2008 financial crisis.

Those events have shaped our feelings and behaviors about finance and investing. In a nutshell, we’re sitting on our cash and not investing. Many of us have money and are saving, despite the student loan debt and grim job prospects that have dogged us and our peers. And together, we are the current largest living cohort in the U.S., with 92 million people, far surpassing the baby boomers, with only 77 million.

So what are all of these young Americans thinking? For starters:

We’re less trusting. According to a Pew Research Center survey taken in 2012, only 19 percent of millennials believe that most people can be trusted — compared with 40 percent of boomers and 31 percent of Gen Xers, for instance.

Especially when it comes to financial institutions. Journalist Ryan Cooper puts it very pointedly in a piece he wrote last year for The Week magazine titled “Confessions of a Millennial Who Hasn’t Invested a Dime in Stock”:

“I’ve read and written a great deal about economics and finance, but I can tell you that the actual mechanisms of asset purchasing are intimidating at hell. Just looking at a 401(k) booklet feels like the hotly acidic fingers of Satan are clutching at my trachea. It’s almost as if I’d rather die in poverty than figure out which investment option would shaft me the least...” Ouch.

We’re in crisis-aversion mode. According the 2014 Better Money Habits Millennial Report from Bank of America and USA Today, 59 percent of millennials are saving for an emergency fund — more than are saving for retirement, a home, a vacation or a new car.

We define success more emotionally and experientially than financially. In the 2014 edition of the UBS Investor Watch report, 39 percent of millennial respondents answered the question “How do you define success? How do you know that you have arrived — what are the hallmarks of success?” with emotional answers such as “Having a happy family” or “Having a deeply meaningful relationship with my spouse/partner.” Thirty percent gave experiential answers such as “Living a full life with a wide variety of experiences” or “Enjoying the work I do.” That’s compared to 24 percent who responded with financial answers such as “Having financial freedom” or “Being able to provide for future generations of my family.”

Given what millennials have seen throughout their lives, do you blame them for any of these traits?

Getting millennials into the markets

So what is going to change millennials’ attitudes about investing? First, the increasing number of millennials in the workforce financially advising other millennials. Secondly, more stories about financial professionals with integrity who genuinely want to help clients improve their lives — take it from me, they do exist! And finally, time. As millennials get older, they’ll realize that the 2008 financial crisis was a “black swan” type of event that rarely occurs and that, despite the zigzags up and down in the short term, the history of the market is one of an ever-rising trajectory that builds wealth.

Jennifer Pagliara is a financial adviser with CapWealth Advisors LLC and a proud member of the millennial generation.