By Lauren Coates

Since starting this blog series, I have read many articles detailing the many differences between Millennials and previous generations. Many of these stories focus on Millennials’ aversion to settling down.

As a Millennial with little experience investing, I learned a lot from Matt Turner’s Business Insider piece on a recent study uncovering Millennials’ investment practices. The story pointed out several problems with this generations strategies. One of the main issues: They tend to “go with their gut” when deciding what to invest in and then blame bad timing for their poor choices. Another issue, despite saying they are willing to take risks, less than half of Millennials actually invest their money and only about one-in-three think “buy and hold” is a good approach.

In addition to investing, Millennials also show reluctance in becoming homeowners. Paul Ausick at 24/7 Wall Street cites Bankrate’s recent report in which Millennials express disinterest in buying real estate. Almost half say their financial situation is preventing from becoming a homeowner, with 29% saying they can’t afford a down payment and 16% saying their credit is too low to qualify for a mortgage. Additionally, more than a third (35%) say they don’t even want to own a home yet. Although these statistics seem grim for the real estate industry, it might not be buying a home that turns Millennials off. It might simply be that they don’t want to grow-up.

To make sure you don’t miss an installment follow us on Twitter @ARResearch.