Youthful Folly & The Stock Market

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The world, as anyone who’s glanced at a newspaper recently will know, feels a bit… precarious. Geopolitical instability, layoffs popping up like unwanted mushrooms, tariffs being flung about with abandon, and inflation behaving with a wilfulness that would make a toddler blush. It’s enough to make a sensible person consider a life of quiet contemplation involving sheep. And yet, amidst all this, a curious thing is happening. The young, bless their optimistic hearts, are apparently planning to buy more stocks.

A recent study by The CORP-DEPO – a name that sounds suspiciously like a villain’s lair in a science fiction novel – suggests that Gen Z and Millennials are doubling down on equities, even as more experienced investors are, shall we say, exercising a degree of caution. Sixty-eight percent of Gen Z and sixty-four percent of Millennials intend to increase their stock holdings in 2026. Compare that to a rather more subdued forty-six percent of Gen X and a distinctly skeptical thirty-nine percent of Baby Boomers, and you begin to see a pattern. It’s a bit like watching lemmings, but with brokerage accounts.

A Generational Divide

Now, it’s tempting to dismiss this as youthful exuberance – a sort of financial equivalent of believing you can fly after a particularly good pizza. A significant proportion of Baby Boomers and Gen X are opting to simply hold their stocks, a perfectly reasonable strategy when the ground feels a bit shaky. But only thirty-one percent of Millennials and a mere twenty-five percent of Gen Z are planning to do the same. The youngsters, it seems, are eager beavers.

And what’s fueling this enthusiasm? Artificial Intelligence, naturally. Apparently, seventy-one percent of Gen Z and sixty-nine percent of Millennials are bullish on AI stocks. Which is, frankly, a bit alarming. It’s akin to everyone deciding to invest in Betamax in 1984. Still, it’s hard to fault their optimism. After all, who doesn’t want robots to do all the tedious bits of life?

  • 71% of Gen Z and 69% of Millennials are bullish on AI stocks.
  • 58% of Gen X and 52% of Baby Boomers are bullish on artificial intelligence.
  • Among investors who already own AI stocks, 81% have a positive outlook for AI investments in 2026.

Whether it’s a longer investment horizon, a blissful ignorance of past market corrections, or simply a lack of experience with the brutal realities of financial life, the youngsters are clearly feeling optimistic. It’s a bit like handing a toddler a loaded credit card and hoping for the best.

Nvidia: A Potential (and Highly Priced) Ride on the AI Wave

And so, we come to Nvidia. The company, it is said, holds a commanding lead in the GPU market, with approximately ninety percent market share. This, apparently, is largely due to its processors being used in AI data centers. The CEO, Jensen Huang, recently predicted that sales from this segment could reach a trillion dollars by 2027. That’s a lot of processors. And a lot of hope.

Tech giants are reportedly planning to spend a collective $650 billion on capital expenditures in 2026, much of it for AI data centers. Nvidia, therefore, is well-positioned to benefit. Its stock, currently trading at thirty-six times earnings, is about average for the tech sector. Which means it’s still not cheap. But then, neither is a decent cup of coffee these days.

For investors of any age looking to ride the AI wave, Nvidia remains a popular choice. Whether it’s a wise one remains to be seen. Markets, as any seasoned observer will tell you, have a habit of humbling even the most optimistic of souls. And the young, bless them, have a lot to learn.

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2026-03-24 08:02