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Proprietary Data Insights Top Stock Searches To End 2023
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Is Generation Z Ditching America? |
Before we kick off the 2024 iteration of The Juice, focusing on the young people, let’s see which stocks investors searched for most across our 100-plus financial media partners to end 2023. No shockers in the first four slots of the year-end Trackstar top five. But, why in the world did Costco (COST) surge into a fifth position usually occupied by Microsoft (MSFT)? In case you were off your normal schedule last week, we were on top of it. We explained Costco’s Trackstar surge, which became more pronounced after our story, in What Is A Special Dividend?: So, if the stock drops by the special dividend amount, it makes very little sense to buy simply because of the special dividend … When Costco made its announcement on December 14th, the stock soared. From roughly $631 to about $681. There was an initial move higher on the news. Tough to have predicted, but not surprising. Then, proof that you should never chase a special dividend, COST closed 2023 at just over $660 a share. Had you bought Costco on the special dividend news, there’s a decent chance you would have bought close to or at that $681 top. Do you think Gen Z shops at Costco? We don’t. And, according to a recent survey from Preply, more than a few 18-to-26 year olds are thinking about leaving the United States altogether. As we get set to focus on retirement in 2024, we thought it made sense to kick the year off with this story. Because it’s all tied together. There’s the high cost of housing; the general high cost of living; and social and political ills, issues and divisions that make retiring like your grandparents and parents might have — in the United States — less attractive, if not financially impossible. As we make sense of the different ways different people might want to view retirement this year and beyond, we’ll consider these and many other important factors. With that in mind, 18% of the 3,000 Gen Zers in this survey cite cost of living as a big reason for wanting to — possibly — move abroad. We say possibly because, while we don’t shit on Gen Z as much as other platforms do, they are a fickle bunch. On one hand, only 0.1% of survey respondents said digital nomad influencers are influencing their thoughts about leaving the U.S. On the other, just 34% say they plan to move abroad indefinitely with most of the rest only planning to dip their toes on foreign soil for 1 to 5 years. Call it a long vacation, which actually ties into a very Generation Z view on spending that we’ll discuss — in relation to retirement — in tomorrow’s Juice. So we have to wonder if all this talk about leaving America is an emotional response to the cost of living and other concerns expressed by Gen Z, such as social programs, safety, stress and politics. As for the cities Gen Z are most likely to flee for reportedly greener pastures:
And, oh, the places they’ll go:
Cost of living is a concern and you want to move to the UK, Canada, Japan or the Netherlands? Not necessarily the cheapest places in the world. Especially Canada. The Bottom Line: This data makes us wonder if Gen Z has its head on straight. Moving to another country — temporarily or forever — is a big deal. It requires a plan, particularly if you don’t think you can make ends meet or retire in the United States. These seemingly inconsistent answers make us question if Gen Z actually knows what they’re talking about, if we can generalize for just a second. Or maybe it’s not about money, because the place Gen Z is apparently least likely to leave is Boston, one of the most expensive cities in America. The Juice loves confusion. We’re here to make sense of it. We’re going to have fun together this year tying all the elements together to help you decide how, when and where to retire. Assuming, of course, you haven’t done so already. If you have, we’d love to know your experience. And we’d be thrilled if you forward this email to a family member, friend or co-worker so they can join our community. |
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