Young Investors in the Maturing Asset Economy

Monique de Jong McKenzie

Asset ownership is increasingly central to the management of everyday life for individuals and households as governments, enamoured by the logics of neoliberal austerity, have increasingly adopted policies that favour private funded social security enabled by privatised household investment. The family home is often the largest and most central asset-class for households, but this has become increasingly out of reach for younger generations. Rather than rejecting the promise of asset-based security, young adults are pivoting their financial strategies to a different asset class, namely financial assets such as shares and cryptocurrency. This project aims to uncover why financial markets have appeared to young people as the vehicle to achieve security and stability. Furthermore, this project looks at how technology has shaped young people’s engagement with financial assets, through the increased circulation of financial knowledge on social media and the rise of FinTech platforms that provide new pathways to invest in assets.