Recently I saw an Edward Jones commercial, showing a young woman video chatting with her dad and his financial advisor. The young woman completed her first week of…work I assume, and the group was preparing to discuss her financial goals. Namely, how to pay back her dad (haha).
In the same week that I saw the commercial, I read an article about 5 investment myths. One of the myths is that you have to have a lot of money to invest. Which is not true, ergo, a myth.
From the commercial, it looks like the young woman lives in a decent sized apartment in a city (expensive). The Edward Jones building is likely in a skyscraper (expensive and intimidating). I happen to invest with Edward Jones, and sometimes there’s a homeless man escaping the rain right outside the door to the small, first floor office. Come to think of it, it’s the only floor in that building. This office is in Tacoma, Washington…lots of wetness in those parts. Anyways, this commercial doesn’t do anything to debunk the myth that you have to have a lot of money to invest. Or that it’s something you can do by your own accord. Student loans are high and not everyone, me for instance, was raised with the knowledge of investing. The amount of debt people have coming out of college in absurd. While investment companies may prefer to promote to the wealthy, they are missing a large opportunity to get young investors started early. With large student loan debt, will come vast amounts of educated individuals looking to make decent money (hopefully). I don’t understand why investment companies are not A) trying to debunk the myth that you have to have a lot of money to invest, and B) promoting their services to students, moving back in with their parents while they start their careers. I’m pretty sure the percentage of the latter is greater than the percent of graduates who have it all figured out. Additionally, since her dad is in the office, she was obviously raised understanding the benefits of investing.
About a month ago, my friend asked if she should do a Roth or Traditional 401(k) with her company. I asked my financial advisor and, not only did he provide me his opinion (he said Traditional), he also told me that if my friends were interested in investing, the initial “commitment” he would ask for is $50 a month with intentions to increase that amount per year! Not everyone does this, but doesn’t it make sense? Get educated, career driven people to invest early, and over time you’ll have a good volume of clients making and investing decent amounts of money.
Another issue in this equation is getting my friends to reach out to my financial advisor, or any financial advisor. Starting the journey through the unknown is scary, and it’s much easier to avoid it. However, if the advertisements related more to this demographic, the process of investing might not be so intimidating.
Video: https://www.ispot.tv/ad/Anov/edward-jones-first-week
Myths article: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-common-costly-investing-myths-040000557.html;_ylt=AwrBEiTVwwlU2iAAB8eTmYlQ.