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With the 2008 global financial crisis in the rearview mirror, investing your money in the stock market is the best way to grow your wealth. However, it seems that some Millennials still don’t understand that.

A Gallup poll found that only 38 percent of Millennials are investing in the stock market. Although there are many reasons behind Millennials’ fear of investing, it seems that the 2008 Great Recession might be partially to blame.

The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis

It turns out that the global financial crisis created numerous problems for many Millennials. Most Millennials graduated college around or after the Great Depression with the most student debt in history. And as the Millennials were entering the workforce, unemployment skyrocketed. As a result, the job prospects for Millennials were bleak.

Many Millennials had to enter the workforce with below average pay when adjusted for inflation. In many cases, this is still haunting them.

This lack of income also created a ripple effect for Millennials by delaying other lifetime milestones such as buying a home, getting married, having children, and saving for retirement.

Afraid of Investing

A 2017 study by Legg Mason found the financial crisis of 2008 greatly influenced the investing decisions for 82 percent of Millennials. Similarly, only 39 percent of GenXers felt the same way.

Contrary to popular belief, Millennials are good at saving money. In fact, one study found that Millennials are the best generation when it comes to saving money. But that’s the problem — Millennials are saving their money in traditional bank accounts instead of focusing on investments.

According to the study, 85 percent of Millennials consider themselves to be conservative investors. Most financial experts agree that young people should be more aggressive than conservative when it comes to their investments because they could miss out on long term growth without taking risks.

Despite being conservative, 78 percent of Millennials are now willing to take more risk with their investments.

The Solution

In 2015, one study found that a lack of investing knowledge is the main reason behind Millennials who are hesitant to invest. That means that investment firms must create some type of awareness for Millennials about the importance of growing your wealth.

One Millennials gain some insight about investing, more of them will finally start to save for retirement.