Young take a fresh path

YOUNG Australian investors are ignoring the methods and assets used by their parents for decades, and are instead focusing on new technologies to build their wealth.

Stockbrokers and traditional portfolios of banks and other blue-chip Aussie companies are being replaced by online investment platforms and buying into overseas giants such as Apple, Google and Amazon.

Peter Chapman, 32, is among this new breed, and has invested in Facebook, Shopify and Snapchat through website Stake.com.au.

“My overall strategy for investing in each is to take a growth approach — I believe there is significant upside in all three companies,” he said.

“My reason for investing in Snap (creator of messaging app Snapchat) had nothing to do with performance. I invested because I believe in the ability of the founder, Evan Spiegel, to continue to develop innovative products that will be used by millions of people.

“I chose not to use a traditional stockbroker or financial advisers because I already had a very defined outcome of what I am looking to invest in, being technology.”

Stake.com.au CEO and founder Matthew Liebowitz said younger investors were connected citizens in tune with the companies, trends and themes that were shaping the world.

“They have a stronger affinity to the companies that have global reach, and they want to invest where the potential for growth is significant,” he said.

Stake’s platform resembles an online shopping site, where you add shares such as Apple or Tesla to your online shopping cart, and pay much lower brokerage fees than other share buying options.

People can search shares by category – such as entertainment or health – and give shares to family and friends.

“Younger investors now have a choice – just because the generation before them used a Big Four bank, it doesn’t mean they have to,” Mr Liebowitz said.

Last week online broker CommSec reported that more than 50 per cent of its new customers were under 35, and millennial investors were making 70,000 trades per month.

It’s not just shares that young investors are targeting. International transfer company OFX found that 18-30 year olds were increasingly buying real estate abroad. This was driven by the “affordability crisis in the domestic market”, said OFX Group chief operating officer Adam Smith.