Today's 20-somethings: The new investment skeptics?

SO what you are saying is that I should allow the government to take even more of my money to force investment in things I don't care about or invest in. Then I should take even more of my money and invest it in a total shell game that is nothing more than a shady carnival clown trying to steal your money.

What exactly am I supposed to live on? You want to answer that question?

Nothing you proposed will create sustainable GDP growth. It will only grow the size of the government and set the stage for collapse after collapse.

The reason why 20 somethings are jaded is because we have seen the game for what it really is. A way for wealthy individuals to steal money from the middle class and destroy the lives of working Americans. We do not want to invest in a multinational conglomerate that outsources labor and wants to pay us peanuts. The average 25 year old makes far less today than their parent did doing the same job at the same time in their life.

10 fixes that need to happen

#1 Shut down Wall Street and privatize the whole system.

#2 Outlaw all campaign contributions and set up an equal general fund capped for all political elections.

#3 Destroy the fraudulent and destructive malpractice industry.

#4 Enable sweeping audits of hospitals. Find out why a simple procedure costs $5000 today that cost $100 15 years ago. Then put a stop to it.

#5 Eliminate the welfare system completely. Don't want to work for a living, go ahead and starve.

#6 Eliminate Social Security and Medicare for anyone under 50. Use the money saved from the elimination of welfare to fund the next 20 years of the SS program. There is more than enough.

#6 Cut taxes across the board by 75%.

#7 Return control of schools to the local level and fire all state and federal oversight boards. Live in an area with a crappy school, move. Don't take my money to fund incompetence in the inner city. East Cleveland board members used millions in tax dollars to take vacations and play golf, not teach kids.

#8 Eliminate all illegal regional income tax collection agencies.

#9 Reduce the level of government employees by 50%.

#10 Enable a flat tax rate of 10%. 5% Local, 3% State, 2% Federal. Nobody pays over 10% of their income and there are no deductions. If the government can't make due with that then they have overstepped their bounds and should be replaced with a system that can live within their means.

I don't know about the rest but I love #2.

#2 Outlaw all campaign contributions and set up an equal general fund capped for all political elections.


The great thing about #2 is that it would also eliminate the lobbyist and special interest controll that huge campaign donations create.

The real reason 20 year olds are balking at the Stock Market is that they see it for what it is...a casino. For years we've been fooled by the 70 year return numbers into believing that the Market moves steadily upward. There are many 20 year periods when the Market goes nowhere. Most of the upsides are distortions like the dot-com fiasco. If you take out those occasional abnormal spikes the returns don't seem worth the risks in my opinion.

The Market never has been rational as some would have us believe but rather soars or falls on rumors, fear, and over exhuberance.

Agreed. #2 needs to happen.

Interesting how the post here lacks any mention whatsoever of all of the complete folly and corruption on wall street and far beyond. I'm a 20-something and I wont be investing any time soon simply because it's an insider's game. Regular joes get eaten alive but the collusion and unethical practices of the traders. Not that I blame them; if dad gave me the keys to the ferrari with no consequences and all the get-out-of-jail-free cards I wanted, I'd drag-race it drunk with a pile of hookers in the back seat, too.

I actually am that 20 something who started investing a few years ago. The market crash took me down big time and learned many lessons the hard way, but I LOVE the challenges. Now I know I found my passion and actively pursuing success.

I actually posted an article on a day in the life as a part-time investor

http://www.my10000dollars.com/part-time-investor/

What do you think guys?

If you are in your twenties your odds for long term success are greater. The key there is that you leave your money in continuosly so as to benefit from the short term huge upward blips that actually make most of your gains. Miss acouple of these in your lifetime and you may end up with a very meager retirement.

This article is ridiculous. The average twenty year old has no interest in investing. The average twenty year old is consumed with trying to get what they need to live. A car, an apartment or college education is what twenty year olds think about.

as one who has lived thru all these ups and downs except the great depression this is what I would do if I could do it all over...Save and invest in a good no load mutual fund-well diversified....even if it is $5 avg a week..even the poor can do this(my parents did)..the last couple of generations have been "entitlement" ones-sorry no longer...for every non necessary doller you- spend Please Save/invest one..say NO to credit cards-these originated with my generation-big sorry- and "killed" us..pay more attention to who you vote for-a Balanced congress does Less damage than a majority one overloaded with issues and a history of "high ideals" and Spending more than we have in attempts to achieve them (and their own money goals)- be Independent, not party sheep..Democracy is NOT the same as demonc-rats- remember the citizen majority does NOT count once politicians are elected-more so now than ever!

I WOULD NOT INVEST IN AMERICAN STOCKS OR BONDS BECAUSE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE-OBAMA THE LYING JERK-WILL STEAL THE MONEY--IE GM BONDS=BE SAFE TRY CHINESE STOCKS=========================

Iridium makes some good comments. This article simply repeats tired liberal talking points. You expect me to believe that increased taxation and increased government spending would have prevented the markets' downturn? C'mon! I'm 58 years old, and the politicians, attorneys, and businessmen of my generation have made such a mess of things that, in another 10 years, the 20-somethings will probably line us up and shoot us. With Obama & the Demos' current policies, our economy will never recover. It's going to be a tough world in 20 years, with rampant debt, world-wide poverty, and inflation. God help my kids!

We need to do only ONE thing. Enforce JFK's executive order 11110 that end the Federal Reserve's authority of issuing our currency (virtually out of nothing by a process known as fractional lending) and then charge us interest on it. Return that function to the US Treasury. Get rid of the private banking cartel called the Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reseve Act of 1913 was passed
fraudulently on the eve of a holiday by a simple majority of a few crooked members of Congress when most already took off for the Christmas holidays. President Woodrow Wilson regretted signing this bill. Repeal this Act!

Kevin seems to make the most sense. Adding my own opinion here, brokers are the ones to make money on stock transactions, whether the investor makes money or not. To them it is always a good idea for someone else to invest. Like real estate brokers do not buy houses, it is cheaper and cleaner to make money off the buyer and seller.

I realize it is difficult for old geezers to see beyond the next horizon; they want to see the US as if it still the center of the earth. And is easy to postulate with a bunch if's when we do not have access to the real and whole world except for what we see around us.

What I have been reading from certain corners, like from CEO's, Obama plans, and conversative literature are two words: infrastructure and education. Couple these two words with the idea that Asia will become the center of consumer consumption, then we have a problem. If we lose our position as an economic might, it will not be because Obama led us that way, but because we lacked the will to compete.

As for Kevin, this world pretty much belongs to him, and us old geezers should step out the way.

This article lacks economic thought.

Generation Y need not ask why as their futures are crafted altimatically by cheap labor driven markets. Half way through the baby boom generation's careers global markets were being readied that today screw Boomers, Generation X, and Y.

Author claims credentials in economics but believes that too much government borrowing and spending is the cure for too much borrowing and spending on the part of consumers. Apparently borrowing to spend money you didn't earn is stimulating.

Obviously Keynesian economics, thoroughly discredited by Hayek, is the author's forte`. Thinks 20-somethings know history (doubtful). Also thinks New York is the center of the world (it used to be).

Time for someone to learn that the Politicians only return about 2/3 of the money that they steal, to the markets.

Our Constitution was written by men who had just risked their lives and fortunes to throw off a group of political parasites known as the British Parliament. Having been well-educated during the Age of Enlightenment, they wrote a Constitution intended to contain the rise of an equally repugnant group of American political parasites. This was gradually weekend by politicians ( American political parasites) to the point today where the Constitution has been reduce from the Law of the Land to The Suggestion of the Land.

But History shows that every empire eventually enters a political stage where the politicians command more and more of the wealth until the empire fails or fades. The people become heavily taxed and therefor, more dependant on the government. This is inevitably accompanied by the debasement of the government approved currency. Having overtly taxed the people to the point of rebellion, the government covertly taxes the savers through inflation.

By the end of the Roman Empire, the denarius contained about 3% of its original silver content. Under the nearly 100-year reign of the Fed, the American dollar has been debased to about 2% of its original 1913 worth. We are ahead of the great Roman Empire on this measure.

Those who think that picking sides with political parties will lead to a better result, had best go back to high school and root for the home team in pep rallies.

Stocks are not the best bet for your future.Technocrats will outstrip the market.The one solution is replace Progressivism with Innovation.The answer is not one world government but to have stocks change their name to reduction not production.I am amazed that people are actually fools investing in stocks and bonds.The twins are named the stock broker and the used car salesman because you've lost your cash.You think you can trust these crooks.You don't, you can't and you shouldn't be taken for fools. Larry Batek

Were supposed to trust a government who once elected forgets their supposed to vote according to what the people want. No, governement's role is not to run the lives of the very people who feed them. Increased taxation has never worked. This governement created this mess and the fall of the stock market, due to the housing bubble. Not one investigation, and their still in governement telling us what we should be doing. Enron employees who cooked the books were sent to prision for far less. Its the governement who got us into this mess, it was not because we did not invest in infrastructure. This current adminstration will become very wealthy off the middleclass tax payer backs. They break the laws and no one questions them. We no longer have a republic, we the people need to take our rights back. Who would invest, look at the preferred share holders of Chrysler and Gm got peanuts and the union workers got more and shares of the company. The law states preferred share holders get paid back first in full before anyone else. But instead the government ruined peoples retirement plans, money they had saved and lent in good conscious. So their retirement plans are ruined.

My main question after reading this article and its accompanying comments is the same one I have after reading a lot of financial blogs w/ comments: Why are so many people with apparently almost zero knowledge and experience in this area posting their comments? I'm 45 and- all told- have made a good deal of $ in the market over the last 25 years. Then again, I actually work at my investments and don't make "wack job" comments on the blogs 24/7, the way so many people do. Maybe y'awl might want to rethink your approach if you actually want to make money.

Hey Vickie, have you completely lost track of time or are you such a certified nitwit that you think that the housing crisis began on or about January 20, 2009? BTW, thanks for providing anecdotal evidence for my question a few moments ago: "Why are so many people with apparently almost zero knowledge and experience in this area posting their comments?" and- as in your case- making them "wack job" comments?

Hey Bobby Dee we will see who the ceified nitwit is when unemployment continues to rise and the standard of living increasing get worse in the next four years get back to me then. I have made and lost money in the stock market for years. Zero knowledge? Well time will tell

Right or wrong, these trillions in bail out dollars is no different than people living on credit and credit cards that they couldn't afford to pay back for the last how many years. Just this time it's the government, but we get to pay the bill. CASH! Piles of cold hard cash is the best way to weather the current economic situation. I learned a lot about spending, SAVING and living a "richer" life from the book "How to Become Filthy Rich on Your Current Income" at www.how-to-become-rich.com. If people read books like this one we would not have the current situation we do.