Per Jillian Berman at Marketwatch
About 85% of millennials are putting away a portion of their paycheck, according to an online survey of 1,100 Americans conducted by digital ad agency Fractl on behalf of eBay Deals, published Friday.
The article explains that this high propensity to save is likely the result of the Great Recession and the devastating effects it had on their parents’ retirement accounts. In addition to this, the detrimental effect it had on their ability to easily find work adds to their action to save.
“They’re worried,” [Chibuzo Okoro] says. “They’re just anticipating being out of a job. You want to save as much as you can when you can.”
While this lean towards saving is perhaps one of the only positive outcomes of the financial crisis, the article by Jillian Berman goes on to explain that millennials are not investing their money, which is an opportunity cost of choosing to save by storing ones money in saving accounts.
That skittish mentality has pushed 20-somethings to keep their money in the modern equivalent of under the mattress or in checking or savings accounts where it accrues little interest, instead of investing, says Stefanie O’Connell, the author of “The Broke and Beautiful Life,” a personal finance guide for millennials. Just 26% of Americans under 30 are investing in stocks, an April survey from personal finance site Bankrate found.
By choosing to store their money in saving accounts, millennials are not keeping up with inflation. It certainly makes sense why three-fourths of millennials choose not to invest in the stock market. The financial crisis left an imprint on them that reminded them of the riskiness of the stock market and how easily one can lose it all, even when everything seems rosy—which was the case with the S&P 500 before it took its spectacular fall. To compound this, getting a well-paying job that can support a comfortable lifestyle while paying off one’s student loans is becoming an increasingly remote endeavor. 
With little money to risk investing and clear memory of the financial collapse, it is understandable why millennials are choosing to keep what they have rather than invest in the stock market, which has risen approximately 300 percent since the collapse. 
Read Jullian Berman’s article, Millennials are saving — but they’re doing it wrong
Summary
- 85% of millennials are saving, according to the digital ad agency Fractl
- They are, however, choosing to save rather than invest.
- Job security and the riskiness of the stock market are likely factors.
Nifty Penny 