Meet the Diarists
For 18 months, we are following more than 50 individual investors earning LMI to better understand their experience in capital markets firsthand. With voice diaries and interviews, our innovative qualitative research captures both current trends affecting investors earning LMI as well as their personal reasons for being in capital markets and how they are navigating them.
Profiles will be updated on an ongoing basis until 2026.
Yonqi is young PhD student focusing on long-term investment strategies that will allow him to save and have extra income.
Jennifer is investing to continue to build wealth for retirement and to provide for her adult daughter, who happens to have special needs.
Diarist Trend: Age Shapes Risk Tolerance
Across interviews, diarists consistently linked their willingness to take risks with their stage of life. Younger investors described embracing more risk, believing they have time to recover from losses and build wealth. In contrast, those closer to retirement emphasized caution, focusing on preserving what they’ve earned to secure financial comfort later in life.
Zach
I’ve always learned that it’s better to go more risky when you’re younger compared to when you’re older, because you can just make it back easier.”
Transcript of Zach’s audio
I have multiple different portfolios with different levels of risk. Right now, I’m willing to take more risk because… I wanted to show more of a return. And I’ve always learned that it’s better to, like, be more risky when you’re younger compared to when you’re, like, older, because you can just make it back easier, and it’s like smarter to do it that way. So I’m willing to go for the risk. But as I said before, I look into everything, like my financial situation at the time.
Christiane
[I] don’t see me becoming more of a risk taker. I think I’m going to stay pretty conservative, just because I’m getting older.”
Transcript of Christiane’s audio
I don’t see me becoming more of a risk taker. I think I’m going to stay pretty conservative just because I’m getting older and I know at some point I want to be able to retire and be financially comfortable. So to me, it’s about saving what I have and not, you know, taking a big risk.
Elizabeth
As I get older, I think I’m going to try to make the smartest, safest investments that I possibly can.”
Transcript of Elizabeth’s audio
My risk taking is probably only going to get less and less as I get older in the future. I can’t see that I’m going to get any riskier as I get older. The world seems to be getting kookier as I get older. Money is harder to come by. I want to keep my money. I don’t want to lose my money, so I don’t think I will be making riskier investments. As I get older, I think I am going to try to make the smartest, safest investments that I possibly can. So I will probably continue to research things and try to make the right moves.
Meet Christian
I’m aiming for the stars, and as long as I land on the moon, I’m satisfied.”
Transcript of Christian’s audio
The fascination of financial freedom. My life goal is to be a philanthropist one day. And I believe that investing is a pivotal part of that. And in order to achieve that, I am pursuing FIRE and financial freedom. And in order to do that, I have to aggressively invest as much as I can. Now, will I achieve all my goals? Probably not. But I’m aiming for the stars. And as long as I land on the moon, I’m satisfied.
Pennsylvania
About Christian
- Man
- Black
- No children
- Age 27
- Household income between $70k-$79k
- 2-3 years active investing; 5 years since opening account
INVESTING GOAL
Retiring early
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Self-taught investor
CURRENT BALANCE
$75,363.80
TIME SPENT
30-45 minutes per week
Meet Marquita
I still feel like it’s a good opportunity.”
Transcript of Marquita’s audio
Then I was feeling that, that was a great opportunity. I still feel like it’s a good opportunity to grow my portfolio and diverse my portfolio. I am a little bit sad because I’m not putting money in as much as I would like to. But hopefully in the near future I’ll be putting money into each of my portfolio sections to grow them and manage them better.
Texas
About Marquita
- Woman
- Black
- One child
- Age 34
- Household income between $40k-$49K
- Less than 1 year of investing experience
INVESTING GOALS
Emergency
fund
Save for a
dream farm
EXPERIENCE
EMERGENCY UPDATE
I was happy that I had the money available to withdraw. But in the end, I still wish that I could have let that money stay in my investment account to be more productive. But it was my only option.”
CURRENT BALANCE
$96.81
STARTING BALANCE
$3,589.14
TIME SPENT
5-6 hours per week
Meet Amelia*
We’re just going to let this ride and know that there are ups and downs. We have to weather those storms and just stay the course.”
Transcript of Amelia’s audio
I guess my biggest concern is retirement accounts and our investment accounts, and seeing those numbers drop is disappointing. As I said, but we have moved a few things around. But in the end, we’re just going to let this ride and know that there are ups and downs and we have to weather those storms and just stay the course and hope that it works out in the end. But we’re also not putting a lot of money into investments at the current time.
Maryland
About Amelia
- Woman
- White
- Married with 2 children
- Age 45
- Household income between $60k-$69K
- Almost 2 years of investing experience
INVESTING GOAL
To generate enough in investments to not be tied to work
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Learned about investing from partner
CURRENT BALANCE
$39,621.33
TIME SPENT
30-60 minutes per week
Meet Austin
Yeah, money’s gotten a little tighter, so I’ve had to pause my auto deposits temporarily for the time being.”
Transcript of Austin’s audio
Yeah, money’s gotten a little tighter, so I’ve had to pause my auto deposits temporarily for the time being.
California
About Austin
- Man
- White
- No children
- Age 30
- $70k by self; $100,000 combined household income
- Less than 1 year of investing experience
INVESTING GOAL
Passive Income
EXPERIENCE
CURRENT BALANCE
$8,142.68
TIME SPENT
30 minutes per week
TIME HORIZON
Long-term investing
Meet Ariana
It’s been a journey for me. I feel like I’m so confident.”
Transcript of Ariana’s audio
I would honestly say if the market goes back down again, I’ll definitely be buying more because eventually it’s gonna most likely go back up like in 2022… when that situation happened and, any other times it usually always goes back up. But, investing when it’s low will make you a profit in the long run. And that’s the best time to buy, honestly. So I don’t want to say it, but I hope it goes back down again so I can, invest more. Because it’s been a journey for me. And I mean, I feel like I’m so confident now that I don’t know, I like investing. It’s been a really long ride, and I’m just doing whatever at this point. And whatever happens, happens. If the government crashes, if this whole thing crashes, it’s going to be okay at the end of the day.
Georgia
About ariana
- Woman
- Black
- One child
- Age 22
- $35k by self; $60k-$69K combined household income
- 1-2 years of investing experience
INVESTING GOALS
Pay off car loan
Buy a home
Build wealth
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Self-taught investor
First-generation investor
UPDATE
I wish there was…more knowledge, something to have people better understand investing instead of [saying] ‘you could make money,’ so people don’t have such a bad outlook.”
TIME SPENT
1.5 hours per week
Meet Yongqi
I found that the stock market has been pretty strong for the past maybe a few decades in the U.S. right, So it’s not very likely for me to just to start investing and immediately lose money.”
Transcript of Yongqi’s audio
I found that the stock market has been pretty strong for the past maybe a few decades in the U.S. right, So it’s not very likely for me to just to start investing and immediately lose money.
New Jersey
About Yongqi
- Man
- Asian
- No children
- Age 23
- Household income between $60k-$69k
- 2-3 years of investing experience
INVESTING GOAL
Save and generate extra income
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Self-taught investor
CURRENT BALANCE
$67,000+
HOURS SPENT
2-3/week
TIME HORIZON
Long-term investing
Meet Jennifer
I think the main goal is to just try to either preserve my money or help the money to grow… to have it in the future when I may not be able to work or to provide for my daughter.”
Transcript of Jennifer’s audio
I think the main goal is to just try to either preserve my money or help the money to grow, to be able to provide for future things instead of just blowing it on frivolous things. Now, to have it in the future when I may not be able to work or to provide for my daughter, when if something was to happen to me.
Louisiana
About Jennifer
- Woman
- Latina
- One adult child, with special needs
- Age 44
- Household income between $40k-$49K
- 3-4 years of investing experience
INVESTING GOALS
Retirement
Daughter’s needs
EXPERIENCE
EDUCATION
Self-taught investor
TIME SPENT
20 minutes or less per week
CURRENT BALANCE
$70.39
A National Research Initiative Provides Insights into New Investors
The Investor Diaries is designed to understand the millions of new investors who entered retail capital market investing since 2020, particularly those living on low to moderate incomes (LMI).
This research was possible by the generous support of The BlackRock Foundation.
Thank you to our initiative partners, Betterment, moomoo, and Decodis.
*“Amelia” is a pseudonym used at the request of the individual to protect her privacy. Some personal details have been modified or omitted to maintain confidentiality while preserving the authenticity of her experience.
Related
Understanding Today’s Retail Investor
Part of The Investor Diaries project and supported by the BlackRock Foundation, this groundbreaking report uncovers what’s fueling a powerful…
The Investor Diaries
The Investor Diaries is designed to understand the millions of new investors who entered retail capital market investing since 2020,…
The BlackRock Foundation and Commonwealth Launch National Research Effort to Understand First-Time Investors Who Entered Capital Markets Since 2020
Supported by a $1MM grant from The BlackRock Foundation, “The Investor Diaries” will shed light on investors earning low to…