The stock market has been the dinner table talk for most millennials and the Gen-Z, for several years. Thanks to the pandemic, several youngsters have now gotten on to the investing bandwagon.
Digitalisation of investments with the launch of apps like Zerodha Kite, Coin Switch, Groww, Upstox and more, has made this process extremely accessible and easier across age groups. From hassle-free KYC compliances to new account opening, any investor today can open an online trading and Demat account digitally from the comfort of their homes in just a few clicks. Besides, competitive broking charges and rates have further boosted their participation.Vikram Balaji, 22, the brain behind the food blog – The MADRasi says, “It’s definitely a whole lot easier to invest through apps like Groww or Zerodha Kite instead of SBI, which was conventionally used and, it has an extremely bad UI. Now it is super easy for new people to jump into the market.”
Millennials, more than any other generation, have been more adaptable to new technology and have found new ways to achieve their financial goals. Thanks to technological tools and apps, new investors between the ages of 20 and 30 are equipping themselves with financial knowledge. They invest through investment apps and develop wealth in ways that were not possible before machine learning and artificial intelligence.
According to CNBCTV18.com, the outbreak of the Covid pandemic has resulted in 70 percent of investors being under the age of 30. Between May 2020 and September 2021, the user base of BSE has doubled to 80 million. Eighty one percent of their investments are direct into stocks. Millennials’ interest in the market can be associated with a number of factors, including their internet savvy, social media presence through which investor groups share tips, and the availability of investment apps. “Apps make it so much easier to track and keep note of your investments through apps, than through the traditional, non-existent methods, ” says Vedant Davey, 19 who has been investing from 2021.
Apps also give investors prior warnings before buying and selling. It makes it easy to access stocks, crypto, SIPs, Sovereign Gold Bonds, Index Funds, Mutual Funds and IPOs in the same app, with a customized portfolio and shortlisting feature. Investing at one’s youth helps keep the option of retiring early, open. It is also an easier way to encash your investments unlike that of real estate.
“To some extent digital apps are the reason for the increase in more youngsters entering the share market. During the pandemic, they were sitting at home with intermittent work throughout the day instead of 8 to 12 hours working. Fed up with working round the clock and spoiling their health, it is easier for them to work for just a few hours and make quick money in the stock market,” says Ramanathan S, 68 who has benefited from the stock market since the last 40 plus years.
“For making quick money, if you do it systematically, the share market is a good place for investments”, he adds
Most youngsters in the country today have access to phones and apps, along with investing in the stock market, it is also easy to access resource material, take up courses to understand the market and how to invest and to even join different social media networks with like-minded acquaintances.
When asked if they would invest in the market without apps, Prakhar Dhakar,23 from IIT Kanpur said, “I personally still would but my frequency of investing would definitely decrease.”
“The urge wouldn’t be there because I might not be exposed to other ways and I wouldn’t have trusted stock brokers, ” says Jino J Ampakkadu, 22.
Today, almost every service in our country has been digitized and as more and more investors access the stock market, mutual funds and crypto market, it could reshape the way young Indians approach investment and also help the growth of the economy as a whole.
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