Easy money? How Gen Z are investing online to beat Covid woes

Seoul - Growing number of youngsters are turning to online investments to make a living.

Juggling homework, friends and his personal YouTube channel, 12-year-old Kwon Joon is often too busy to check on his investments - not that the South Korean schoolboy is too concerned.

With impressive returns of 42% since he began dabbling in the stock market last year, Kwon believes online trading can safeguard his financial future, in a world made increasingly insecure by the economic fallout from COVID-19.

“To be honest, I sometimes forget to check my stock account because of my school work or when I’m playing with my friends,” said Kwon, who has made 14 million won ($12,364) in profits since he invested 25 million won in seed money last April.

“I’m going to take the shares with me until I become an adult. I think this is the benefit of investing in stocks as a young person because you can invest in it for the long term,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from southern Jeju Island.

From South Korea to the United States, a growing number of teens and young adults born after 1996 - dubbed Generation Z - are turning to online investment platforms that offer the chance to make a living with a swipe, but often pose unforeseen risks.

Gen Z - some 2.5 billion people - make up 32% of the global population, followed by Millennials aged 25 to 40 at 22%, according to Bank of America, which predicts Gen Z’s entry into the workforce will disrupt economies and markets.

MAKING MONEY

Gen Z have seen a promising global jobs market shredded by the pandemic, with soaring unemployment, particularly among young restaurant and travel workers. Bank of America says the pandemic will cost students $10 trillion in lifetime earnings.

Frustrated by lockdowns and dwindling work opportunities, many people in Gen Z are trying their luck on the stock market using fee-free, simple-to-use brokerage apps like Robinhood that offer amateurs unprecedented access to trade.

“Once the pandemic hit and everything went digital, it really gave way for people to focus on investing because it was one of the few activities you could do online,” said Eshita Nandini, 24, who uses Robinhood.

“A lot of people talk about what they’re investing in through group chats, which I have. But there’s these pockets of communities online that you can go to and really learn about what people are doing,” said the San Francisco data analyst.

In the United States, Apex Clearing, which facilitates trades for brokerage companies, said it opened nearly 6 million accounts in 2020 - up 137% on 2019 - and about 1 million of those belonged to Gen Z investors.

Similarly in South Korea, rookies like Kwon have led a rise in retail, or individual, trade amid the pandemic, now making up two-thirds of the trade value of shares up from half in 2019.

“There is no reason why you can’t make money just because you’re a teenager. It’s a great time to practice making money on your own,” said Kwon, adding that he can now comfortably pursue an entertainment career instead of vying for a university spot.