Millennials Fear Cyber-Attacks (and Other Investor Takeaways)

What's inside the head of millennial investors? This year, the Center for Audit Quality's Main Street Investor Survey polled hundreds of millennials—and dug up some interesting insights.

Conducted annually since 2007, the Main Street Investor Survey measures retail investor confidence in U.S. capital markets, global capital markets, and audited financial information, as well as confidence in investing in publicly traded companies. This year, with an eye towards "The Investor of the Future," the survey focused in particular on younger investors: millennials, defined as those between the ages of 18 and 34.

Broadly speaking, our surveying revealed that, when it comes to views on markets and investing, the views of millennials mirror those of older generations in many respects. Namely, millennials expressed relatively robust confidence in U.S. capital markets and in key capital markets players, such as external auditors, independent audit committees, and financial advisors.

But there were also plenty of places where the numbers diverged. With an eye on those divergences, here are a few takeaways. Some bode well for the future of capital markets, and all should interest observers in private and public sector alike.

1. Millennials Appreciate the Positive Attributes of Public Companies

On aspects of fundamental investor confidence measures, millennials stood apart, statistically speaking. For example, when asked why they feel confident in public companies, 24 percent of millennials said public companies are more responsible, more accountable to shareholders, and so on. Only 16 percent of the broader pool of investors chose that reasoning. Millennials, it seems, are more likely to see public ownership of companies in and of itself as desirable.

2. Millennials Believe in Themselves

Millennials don't just believe in public companies—they believe in themselves. Consider that 35 percent of millennial investors said they were more likely to describe themselves as willing to take risks after completing adequate research. That's nine percentage points greater than the response rates for all nationwide investors.

3. Millennials Like—and Fear—Technology

For the generation that grew up on the Internet, the technology sector is unsurprisingly one that they appreciate. In fact, despite the rapidly evolving and sometimes tumultuous nature of technology, nearly three in 10 millennials (28 percent) said that technology is the safest industry to invest in over the next 12 months—higher than 25 percent for all investors.

But technology isn't only a source of confidence for this crowd. When asked about the biggest threat to their investment portfolio, the largest group of millennial investors (37 percent) cited concerns about cyber-attacks targeting their financial information or the capital markets. That's above the level among all investors, for whom cyber-attacks ranked third among concerns.

4. Millennials Worry More Than Others About Debt and Job Security

Speaking of fears, what else are millennials wary of? One thing is debt. Perhaps not surprisingly, given the weight of student loans, millennial investors (38 percent) were seven percentage points more likely than all investors nationwide to say they would pay down a debt, if they suddenly had a $10,000 windfall.

When asked about the biggest threats to their or their families' financial well-being, millennial investors, like all investors nationwide, were most likely to cite being unable to pay for healthcare expenses in the event of serious illness or injury. Job security also weighs heavily on this generation. In fact, millennials (18 percent) were significantly more likely than all nationwide investors (11 percent) to cite the threat of unemployment as the biggest threat to financial well-being.

What do you make of these observations? What do you millennials reading this post think? And what would you do with an unexpected 10 grand? I welcome your thoughts in the comments and encourage you to check out the full survey results.

A securities lawyer, Cindy Fornelli has served as the Executive Director of the Center for Audit Quality since its establishment in 2007.