A recent MSN report highlighted the spending habits of millennials, which shows key trends pointing towards the sign of the times—a heavy reliance on technology and convenience.
“The stereotype is that millennials spend their money frivolously, but the spending that might be mocked as frivolous – like greater spending on streaming services and electronics such as iPhones – may be more indicative of the times we live in than they are a sign of thoughtless overspending,” says Stefanie O’Connell Rodriguez, millennial money expert and author of “The Broke and Beautiful Life.”
The report noted that millennials spend more on:
- Convenience.
- Online shopping.
- Debt payments.
- Food away from home.
- Experiences and travel.
- Streaming services.
- Social impact.
“Convenience is a huge reason millennials spend money because we aged into adulthood with the rise of apps for seemingly everything,” says Erin Lowry, millennial money expert and author of “Broke Millennial Takes On Investing.” “Ride shares to delivered groceries to meal kits to subscription services to ad-free programming. This isn’t to say that older generations don’t pay for these, but that millennials do put a premium on convenience in new ways.”
Savvy ETF investors sensing an opportunity could consider the Global X Millennials Thematic ETF (MILN). MILN seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Indxx Millennials Thematic Index.
In the case of MILN, the underlying index is designed to measure the performance of U.S. listed companies that provide exposure to the millennial generation, (collectively, “Millennial Companies”), as defined by the index provider. The millennial generation refers to the demographic in the U.S. with birth years ranging from 1980 to 2000.
Shopping for an Online Retail ETF?
To take advantage of millennials focusing their shopping efforts online, ETF Investors can look at the ProShares Online Retail ETF (NYSEArca: ONLN). ONLN seeks investment results, before fees and expenses, that track the performance of the ProShares Online Retail Index.
The index tracks retailers that principally sell online or through other non-store channels. The index uses a modified market-capitalization weighted approach, is rebalanced monthly and is reconstituted annually.
Retailers may include U.S. and non-U.S. companies. To be eligible, retailers must: be classified as an online retailer, an e-commerce retailer, or an internet or direct marketing retailer, according to standard industry classification systems; have a market capitalization of at least $500 million; have a six-month daily average value traded of at least $1 million, and meet other requirements.
For more market trends, visit ETF Trends.