Gen Z and Millennial Investors: Ranking the Most Used, Trusted Investing Tools

Gen Z and millennials are a unique and fast-growing group of investors.

They led the retail investment revolution, embrace new investing services and tools, and are digital natives more comfortable accessing different sources of information to guide their investing strategies.

The Motley Fool’s Generational Investing Tools survey asked 2,000 U.S. adults in November 2023 about the tools they use to invest, the sources they rely on for investing advice, and how they determine the trustworthiness of those sources.

Key findings

• Cash App (NYSE:SQ) is the most-used investing app across all generations of respondents to The Motley Fool survey.
• User interface is the most important aspect of an investing app for younger generations, while baby boomers value competitive fees and bank integration.
• Generations are split on where they get their investing information, with younger generations more commonly using social media and baby boomers sticking to traditional sources of advice, such as traditional investing media, financial advisors, and the news.
• All generations are more skeptical of investing advice from social media than from more established sources of investing information.

The most-used investing apps by generation

Different generations prefer different investing apps, although Cash App is the most commonly used investing app across all generations of respondents to The Motley Fool’s Generational Investing Tools survey.

Keep reading below the table for a dive into investing app preferences by generation.

User interface is the most important investing app factor for younger generations; Baby boomers value low fees and bank integration more

For Gen Z, millennial, and Gen X respondents, a user-friendly interface is the most important factor in an investing app. Baby boomers also value user-friendliness, but their most important factors are competitive fees and pricing and the ability to conveniently link their investing app with existing financial accounts.

Those factors are still important for younger generations but less so, perhaps because they expect these features from most investing apps. Many of the best investing apps have no fees and seamlessly connect to most banks.

Customer support is another factor that baby boomers value more than the younger generations.

Information on stocks, investing strategies, and built-in research tools and analytics are of middling importance for respondents across generations.

Robo-advisor features and features related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors are among the least-important features in an investing app regardless of age.

YouTube is the most common source of investing information for Gen Z and millennials

Age is a determining factor for where Americans turn for investing advice. Younger Americans are more likely to use social media, particularly YouTube (GOOG +1.05%) (GOOGL +1.02%), while baby boomers prefer professional financial advisors and other more traditional sources of investing information.

Where Gen Z gets investing information

• Social media is the dominant source of investing information for Gen Z.
  • Gen Z respondents are more likely to turn to YouTube (47%) and TikTok (35%) than friends and family (31%) for investing advice, according to The Motley Fool’s Generational Investing Tools survey.
  • Gen Z are more likely to use Instagram (27%), Twitter/X (27%), Reddit (23%), and Facebook (19%) than traditional financial media (18.7%) or a professional financial advisor (18%).
  • This finding squares with a 2023 survey from FINRA and the CFA Institute, which found that 48% of Gen Z investors use some form of social media to get investing information, with YouTube being used by 60%. A survey from Bank of America found that YouTube and TikTok are the top social media platforms Gen Z use to get investing advice.
• Gen Z respondents were less likely than any other generation to get their investing information from traditional financial media (18.7%), a professional financial advisor (18%), friends and family (31%), and newspapers and other news media (11%).

Where millennials get investing information

• With 48% of millennial respondents getting investing information from YouTube, the video platform is the most common source of investing information for that age group.
• Friends and family (39%) is the second-most-used source of investing information among millennial respondents.
• Millennials are relatively heavy users of social media for investing knowledge, although their platform preferences differ from Gen Z and Gen X.
  • 38% of millennial respondents use Facebook for investing advice compared to 19% of Gen Z and 21% of Gen X.
  • 30% of millennial respondents use Instagram for investing information compared to 27% of Gen Z and 10% of Gen X.
  • 24% of millennial respondents use TikTok for investing knowledge compared to 35% of Gen Z and 12% of Gen X.
  • 20% of millennial respondents use Reddit for investing advice compared to 23% of Gen Z and 7% of Gen X.

Where Gen X gets investing information

• Friends and family are the most common source of investing advice among Gen X respondents, with 35% saying they turn to those closest to them for investing information.
• Social media is somewhat common among Gen X investors but not as prevalent as it is among millennials and Gen Z.
  • While YouTube is the second-most-popular source of investing information for Gen X (30%), traditional investment media is the third-most-used source of advice (26%), beating out Facebook (21%), TikTok (12%), Instagram (10%), Twitter/X (7%), and Reddit (7%).
  • Gen X gets more investing advice from a professional financial advisor (20%) and news media (14%) than Instagram (10%), Twitter/X (7%), and Reddit (7%).
• Gen X are more likely than any other generation to turn to traditional investing media for investing advice (26%).

Where baby boomers get investing information

• Baby boomers are unlikely to use social media for investing information and instead more regularly turn to traditional sources of investing advice.
• Baby boomers are most likely to use friends and family for investing advice (35%).
• More common than any social media, baby boomers turn to professional financial advisors (29%), traditional investing websites (20%), and news media (17%).
• YouTube is the most popular social media platform for investing advice among baby boomer respondents, with 16% saying they use it. No other form of social media garnered more than 6% of baby boomer respondents.

The most- and least-trusted sources of investing advice

A professional financial advisor is the most-trusted source of investing information among all respondents of The Motley Fool’s Generational Investing Tools survey. Friends and family are the second-most-trusted source of investing advice across all generations.

Books and SEC filings and other financial statements are also highly trusted across age groups. However, aside from friends and family, those most-trusted sources are among the least commonly used, particularly among younger generations.

Social media platforms, among the most-used sources of investing information for younger generations, are among the least-trusted sources of information. YouTube is the exception, with respondents giving it a trust rating on par with traditional investing websites and above newspapers.

Older generations find social media less trustworthy than younger generations, and generational preferences toward social media platforms are apparent in the survey responses.

NASDAQ arrived at the same conclusion in its own 2022 survey that examined investing trends across generations.

That survey also found that social media content from financial experts was most useful, which is an important reminder that not all social media content is the same. Well-researched social media content from qualified content creators can be useful and engaging, but it’s important for investors to be able to tell the good from the bad.

Why do younger Americans turn most to social media for investment advice despite generally considering it not credible?

Convenience, entertainment, and cost are possible answers. It’s easier to search for a YouTube video or Reddit post on a particular stock than it is to schedule an appointment with a financial advisor. For many Americans, watching TikTok clips or Instagram reels from stock-picking influencers is probably much more entertaining than reading SEC filings. Accessing investing content on social media is also free; there are no subscription fees required.

Gen Z split with older generations on how to judge sources of investing advice

Gen Z and baby boomers have some disagreements on how to judge whether a source of investment advice is reputable.

For Gen Z respondents, author credentials and expertise is the most important factor when it comes to assessing the reputability of a new source of investing information. For baby boomers, that’s among the least-important criteria.

Past performance is what baby boomers value most when judging a source of investing information, but it’s the second-least-important factor for Gen Z. Past performance is also a top factor for millennials and Gen X.

Gen Z and baby boomers also disagree on how important it is for recommendations to match their investing strategy. That’s the second-most-important factor for baby boomers but among the least important for Gen Z.

All generations are dismissive of follower count and how many posts an account has when determining whether it’s a good source of investing intel.

How generational divides define investing behavior

Age is a defining factor when it comes to where Americans get their investing advice and which apps they use to invest.

Younger generations, brought up with smartphones in hand and plugged into social media, are more likely to turn to a TikTok video, Instagram reel, YouTube video, or Facebook post than a financial advisor or traditional investing media for stock-picking advice. Baby boomers tend to stick to the professionals for investing advice.

For millennials and Gen Z, and Gen X to a lesser extent, social media is probably the easiest way of accessing information that previous generations are more familiar with. Instead of watching a financial analyst discuss a company's earnings on TV, they may watch the same clip on YouTube or read an analyst's take on Twitter/X.

Despite their proclivity toward social media, our survey results show that Gen Z and millennial investors have a healthy dose of skepticism toward most social media sources and know how to spot credible information. That starts with understanding how to research stocks and coming up with an individual process to form an opinion on any given investment.

Sources

• Bank of America (2023). “2023 Gen Z’s Financial Priorities, Barriers & The Path Forward.”
• Charles Schwab (2022). “2022 401(k) Participant Study - Gen Z/Millennial Focus.”
• FINRA Investor Education Foundation and CFA Institute (2023). “Gen Z and Investing: Social Media, Crypto, FOMO, and Family.”
• NASDAQ (2022). “ETPs are empowering the next generation of investors.”

Methodology

The Motley Fool conducted an online survey of 2,000 American adults via Pollfish on Nov. 7, 2023. Results were post-stratified to generate nationally representative data based on age and gender. Pollfish employs organic random device engagement sampling.

Here are the age ranges for each generation:

• Gen Z members are 11-26 years old. This survey does not include respondents younger than 18.
• Millennials are 27-42 years old.
• Gen Xers are 43-58 years old.
• Baby boomers are 59-77 years old.