Millennial investors more concerned about debt, cyberrisks

Millennials are similar in many ways to investors from older generations in their attitudes and confidence about investing, a recent survey shows.

But Millennials are more likely than their counterparts in other generations to use an unexpected windfall to pay down debt—and they also are more concerned about cybersecurity when they invest, according to the ninth annual Main Street Investor Survey conducted by the Center for Audit Quality (CAQ), which is affiliated with the AICPA.

Millennials, defined in the survey as respondents age 18 to 34, closely mirrored other investors with their views on topics such as confidence in U.S. markets, confidence in U.S. publicly traded companies, and entities they trust to look out for investors (both groups most trust independent auditors of publicly traded companies).

There were some differences between Millennial investors and other respondents:

• Millennial investors were more likely to say they would use an unexpected $10,000 windfall to pay down debt.
• Millennials were more likely than overall respondents to say their top concern about risks to their investment portfolio is cyberrisks targeting their financial information or the capital markets.
• Millennials were more likely to describe themselves as willing to take risks after completing adequate research.