Stocks are king among Gen-Z and millennial investors, but meme stocks are actually of little interest
- Most Gen-Z and millennial investors don't own meme stocks, a survey conducted by Motley Fool found.
- Growth and dividend stocks are the most popular among the age groups.
- Retail traders began the "meme stock" trend earlier this year when GameStop shares skyrocketed.
Meme stocks aren't actually that popular among Gen-Z and Millennial investors.
A new survey revealed 30% of the two age groups combined owned meme stocks, making it one of the least popular stock options for them.
The Motley Fool conducted the new survey last month, asking 1,400 investors ages 18 to 40 about the types of investments they own and what they consider when buying a stock.
The survey found "stocks are king," as 73% of Gen-Zers and 66% of millennials own them. Jack Caporal, the research analyst at the Motley Fool who conducted the survey, said the high interest in stocks is "what you would expect to see for younger investors who have a longer time horizon."
Growth and dividend stocks were the two most popular of the 11 types listed in the survey. Meanwhile, meme, SPAC, and ESG stocks were at the bottom of the list with 30% or fewer buying into them, the data showed.
"Young investors, they really aren't just interested in meme stocks," Caporal told Insider in an interview. "Most of them don't own meme stocks. Most of them gravitate towards more traditional types of stocks."
Earlier this year, retail traders came into the spotlight when they caused shares of GameStop to skyrocket in an effort to squeeze short sellers. Since then, a meme stock trend has emerged, highlighting companies such as GameStop, AMC Entertainment, and BlackBerry.
That trend didn't really characterize young investors, though, Caporal said.
Even though meme stocks ranked lower for the group as a whole, the survey revealed Gen-Z investors were more interested in them than millennials, as 39% of Gen-Zers owned them, compared to 28% of their older counterparts.
Millennials, ages 25-40, ranked a stock's historical stability as the most important in deciding to invest and social media influence as the least. On the other hand, Gen-Z, ages 18 to 24, marked social media influence as a key factor in their decision-making process, among other aspects like analyst ratings.
Caporal said the difference might be that Gen-Zers are "a bit more online or a bit newer to investing and don't have the same outlook as millennials."
With more time on their hands, the two age groups became more interested in financial markets since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic more than a year ago. Apps like Robinhood have made investing more accessible to retail traders.