Comments on: Generation Y is rattled for good reason

By: Jack

Jack — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:58:41 +0000

My opinion is that we must be smart to analize the market and the country s economical position and take desitions based on economical tendencies. We all expect that our economy ywill indeed recover BUT we will repeat the same mistakes in the future if we dont keep in mind what caused our country to get in them on the first place.

By: Jack

Jack — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:23:07 +0000

Whereas Brad Klontz makes this statement in reference to young investers (Generation Y investers) essentially saying they are not investing in enough risky stocks and equity (s) followed by a reccomendation to get with it like real men & women and ride the rollercoaster….they will be better off in the end “WE PROMISE” who the heck is WE? George Bush? and why should they risk their lifes earnings on the same empty promise THEY made when THEY reccomended we all participate in the co. 401 K and save for ourselves just to have someone figure out how to mix the good with the bad to such a point the whole world economy was brought to it’s knees. Keep stuffing the mattresses and keep your eyes on that!

By: Stephanie PTY

Stephanie PTY — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:21:26 +0000

I disagree with your theory about why Gen Y is investing like this. I just graduated from college, and one of the last classes I took was a personal financial management class. And believe me, my classmates were SPOOKED! Many of them were terrified of stocks, asking how they could get good interest rates on savings accounts – for retirement money! Every time someone would bring up stocks, there was at least one person who would always say “But you could lose everything!” No amount of explaining risk vs. reward seemed to calm them.

I think it’s good that my generation is considering risk, but I think they’re doing it wrong. Instead of learning how to take on risk in a smart and careful way, they’re avoiding financial risk altogether.

By: Bret

Bret — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:56:02 +0000

The stock market may be risky, but to recommend young people invest completely in cash accounts or Treasuries for retirement is horrible advice.

For starters, they are paying less interest than the real rate of inflation. So, they would be losing money each year. That doesn’t add up to a wise investment or a secure retirement.

Second, the US Government is 12 trillion dollars in debt and dangerously close to becoming insolvent. So, it’s very likely that we will see a lot more inflation in the future.

Most Gen Y investors aren’t familliar with the Carter era when inflation devastated people’s savings. Trust me, it was a lot worse than the current economic fiasco and we got through it.

The only way to save for retirement is to select investments that will outpace inflation in the long-term. Anything else, comes up short.

By: tom

tom — Wed, 06 May 2009 20:40:31 +0000

I’m Gen-Y and I have everything invested in equity. In fact, I’ve increased my 401(k) contribution from 8% (max match) to 15%. Yeah, it is down, but my portfolio is only down 16% from this time last year, my cost-value is down only 7.8%. Obviously I cannot predict the future of the market, but Gen-Y is missing out on an equity clearance sale.

I agree with you that no one should be taking financial advice from a shrink.

Bottom line is that I’m happy they are saving, because I’ve seen stats that says Gen-Y isn’t even investing in 401(k)s enough to get the match. I do think that they are missing out by not investing in higher risk equity.