(ECNS) – Investing in the stock market has become the top wealth management choice among university students born after 1990, a new survey by Tsinghua University has found.
The survey results released Tuesday in Beijing showed that the most popular wealth management products among university students are stocks and mutual funds, with more than 40 percent reporting having invested in the stock market and 36.7 percent having bought mutual funds.
The survey discovered that most of the university students of the post-1990s generation are motivated by "trying their hand" at wealth management, in a bid to "accumulate social experience" and "improve investment skills", accounting for 63 percent, followed by such goals as "improving living standards", "building up a funding base for potential entrepreneurial projects in the future" and "developing personal interests".
Tian Lihui, the dean of Nankai University Institute of Finance and Development, said China's younger generation has strong wealth management motivation but may have inadequate knowledge in this area.
The survey also found that although they are highly motivated to participate in wealth management, university students misunderstand the concept of financial quotient (FQ), lack planning for consumption, are in need of basic financial literacy and have inadequate ability to identify risks involved in Internet finance.
The survey indicated that the amount of money the students have available to use for investment is small. Some 24.1 percent of the students said they are prepared to give wealth management a go, even with an investment of just one yuan, and 40.6 percent are willing to invest less than 1,000 yuan (about $150).
Also at Tuesday's release, a FQ education program for young people was launched, with support coming from nearly 20 well-known Chinese universities, 20 media organizations and 30 financial institutions.
