Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Are Millennials Investing for Retirement?

Read MoreHide Full Article

  • (0:30) - Retirement For Millennials
  • (4:00) - Social Security, 401k and Setting Up An IRA
  • (9:00) - The Benefits of Having More Time To Save
  • (12:10) - Millennial Trading Apps
  • (18:00) - Compounding Your Retirement
  • (24:00) - Takeaways on Retirement: Podcast@Zacks.com

Welcome to Episode #115 of the Zacks Market Edge Podcast.

Every week, host and Zacks stock strategist, Tracey Ryniec, will be joined by guests to discuss the hottest investing topics in stocks, bonds and ETFs and how it impacts your life.

In this episode, Tracey is joined by Maddy Low, a Zacks Account Manager, and Danny MacPherson, Zacks Podcast Producer, two Zacks Millennials, to discuss whether Millennials are saving for retirement and how they’re doing it.

The Millennial generation is getting older. They are no longer simply 20-somethings living in their parents’ basement. The generation now ranges from 20 to 37. Yes, the oldest Millennials are nearing 40.

Maddy and Danny fall somewhere in the middle so they’re representative of the group that didn’t graduate in the worst job market of the last century.

Self-Funded Retirement

Millennials and Generation X have one thing in common: neither believe that Social Security will be there. Therefore, they’re saving on their own.

Yet, they’re also the first generation which has easy investing opportunities.

Not only are there low-cost investing sites such as Schwab (SCHW - Free Report) , eTrade , and TD Ameritrade (AMTD - Free Report) , the popular investing apps such as Acorn and Robinhood are also eying the retirement market.

Retirement Savings on Your Phone

Acorn, which takes your extra change from credit card purchases and invests it, says on its website that it hopes to launch an IRA in early 2018. It would pull the money from paychecks, however.

The website says more than 270,000 people have signed up on the e-mail list to be notified about the IRA’s launch.

Robinhood is also apparently looking into setting up IRA accounts on its platform. Robinhood is popular with Millennials because there is no minimum start-up amount. You can open an account and trade stocks and ETFs with $0.

Even with high student loan balances and expensive housing, is there hope for the Millennial retirement?

Tune into this week’s podcast to find out.

Looking for Stocks with Skyrocketing Upside?

Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana.

Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look.

See the pot trades we're targeting>>