Do most Americans pay attention to the stock market?

19 comments

1. I for one do not care

2. Some do, not all.

3. Not really. I have money in a investment account but it’s really a leave it, forget it, and hope it does well sort of thing for retirement purposes. I pay far more attention to gas prices and the prices of daily items like food.

4. I would say most working professionals do pay a cursory amount of attention to the market because they very likely have retirement in the market via their 401k, IRAs, etc, or maybe have company stock grants/options etc.

   There’s also a fair number of young professionals that like day trading and stuff.

5. I think it’d be a little naive not to at least have a general idea where the stock market is week to week. Just as an indication of the macroeconomic situation.

6. Regularly? Very few. Less than 5 percent, I’d say. But when it does something newsworthy, people hear about it. I think people have a general (though not necessarily accurate!) impression of the “economy”.

7. 61% of Americans own stock. I doubt they all religiously keep up with it but probably somewhere around there.

   https://news.gallup.com/poll/266807/percentage-americans-owns-stock.aspx#:~:text=WASHINGTON%2C%20D.C.%20%2D%2D%20Gallup%20finds,it%20has%20been%20since%202008.

8. FWIW, [a recent Galup survey](https://news.gallup.com/poll/506303/stock-ownership-highest-2008.aspx) found that 61% of American adults own stock…

9. “Music is for nerds, I only listen to the stock market”

10. I don’t give a damn about it. It has no effect on my life and never has.

    The stock market is just gambling for rich people and I think it’s made out to be much more important than it is.

11. I keep an eye on what the S & P is doing, but I don’t own individual stocks so don’t take it further than that really.

12. I’d say *most* do not, or at least on a daily basis. However, big swings (usually down) will get attention.

    Personally, I have achieved a respectable investment portfolio over my working life (so far) and I do not want day to day swings because short-term moves do not matter to me. I like personal finance. I like investing. But I have things to do and the long-term rate of return is all that matters to me. My “research” is to look for >10yr-old index and mutual funds with consistent returns that meet or exceed the S&P500.

    I consider myself more engaged than your average American, so I assume that *most* Americans do not watch the market at all.

13. I have no idea of the exact percentage and whether or not it constitutes a majority… but it is a reasonably large percentage.

14. Most people keep a very basic and often mostly incorrect view of the stock market.

    Professionals and older people pay attention to it for business investments and retirement.

    However most people’s reaction to stock market events are generally incorrect and short sighted.

15. I dont. But i know 2 co-workers who do.

16. I think very few actively monitor the stock market. My work history deals with economics and finance and I only check into stocks I personally own every month or so, so I imagine the layperson does it even less.

    So if we are talking cursory look maybe at some personal investments, that is going to be somewhere between less than one-third to up to two-thirds of people at the very most (though I think many people have stocks in their portfolios managed and directed by professionals through their work related benefits program, so even those might be way overinflated), but examining things from a macro perspective or in any way that I would say constitutes a regular examination of the stock market will probably only be professionals in the field and a tiny percentage of the population consisting of enthusiasts.

17. Most don’t pay that much attention to it. I don’t buy stocks with the intent of flipping them every couple of hours. In general, I’m holding them for years. Decades really. So I’ll casually watch it out of curiosity but I’m not obsessing over it every day.

    People who’s work requires them to do so are a different story.

18. I do in a minor way. I like the splashy news stories. If something happens I’ll browse r/investing or I’ll make sure to listen to Market Place with Kai Risdal. I like both Market Place and Freakonomics for casual listening.

    I have a retirement account but I don’t personally manage it, it’s just in a target date index fund.

    I did earn $200 on GME stock for the lulz. I have not reinvested it yet though. Its just sitting in my personal investment account.

19. People who work in finance do. And since most Americans own some stocks (usually in retirement accounts) we tend to check up on it now and then to see how we’re doing financially.

    Plus, some political junkies will use it to argue that a president is either doing great or ruining everything.