Investment Trends Among Young People Fear Of Missing Out vs Herd Behavior

Abstract

The investment phenomenon among young people is currently trending. Data on capital market investors in Indonesia increased by 17.6 million Single Investor Identification (SID) data for stocks as of August 8, 2025. Data as of April 2025 showed that >54% of total retail investors in the capital market were under 30 years old. This demonstrates that today's youth are not only technology users but also active investors. Unfortunately, some data shows that young people enter the investment world simply because of FOMO (following the crowd), thus not understanding the risks and being unprepared to accept the risk of loss. In fact, investors generally choose investments because of the potential for profit and low risk. This gap between theory and practice is what motivated researchers to conduct this study. This study aims to examine the factors that drive young people to invest simply because of FOMO (following the crowd). The purpose of this study is to identify young people's motivations for investing and analyze the influence of FOMO and follow-the-crowd behavior on investment trends. The methodology used is qualitative and quantitative research (mixed methods). Data collection techniques used digital questionnaires and interviews. The results show that formal education is the driving factor for investment decisions. Education is the most dominant factor influencing students' investments, at 96.6%. FOMO analysis is relatively low at 3.4%, and peer/environmental influence (following the crowd) is at 3.4%. Today's young people are highly motivated to invest, one of which is to achieve financial freedom. This factor is also driven by the university's active education through seminars, which directly invite experts in the financial sector. Furthermore, the Stock Investment Gallery and capital market school groups facilitate students' quick and accurate access to information based on real-
world experience.