New Investing Anxiety Survey Shows Fear Blocking Young Investors

A new investing anxiety survey suggests that fear, more than a lack of money, is what keeps many Americans out of the stock market. According to the Motley Fool's 2026 Financial Stress and Investing Survey, about one in four non-investors stay on the sidelines for psychological reasons: they do not trust the markets, they find investing too confusing to start, or they dread the emotional strain of watching their money move. The poll was conducted in April among American adults and found that two-thirds of active investors admit financial stress changes the way they invest, usually in ways that hurt their returns.

The anxiety runs deep even among people who already own investments. About 45% of all respondents rate their current stress level a four or five on a five-point scale, and 38% said they feel financially stressed often or every day. Among investors specifically, 41% said they feel anxious about their investments at least some of the time. That includes one in ten who feel that way five or six days a week, plus a smaller slice who feel it daily. The numbers show investing is not just a math problem. For a large share of the public, it is an emotional load that never fully lifts. This investing anxiety survey also found that market swings get under people's skin: among respondents who follow the markets, 55% said volatility has a major or some emotional impact on them.

Young investors feel the stress most

The youngest investors carry the heaviest load. About 49% of Gen Z investors report feeling stressed about their investments three or more days a week, with millennials close behind at slightly more than half. The researchers behind the investing anxiety survey found that younger investors are also the most likely to let that stress change their behavior across every category they measured. Nearly half of Gen Z respondents, 48%, said they had made at least one investment decision driven mainly by emotion rather than research or a plan. Older generations report the same feelings far less often, and baby boomers report the least.

That emotion tends to show up at the worst possible moment, and this investing anxiety survey suggests compulsive checking is part of the trap: 34% of investors said stress makes them check their portfolios more than they would like. Roughly 19% of respondents said they had sold an investment out of fear of losing more money, and 17% admitted they had bought into something because of excitement or fear of missing out. Selling into a downturn locks in a loss and removes any chance of benefiting from a recovery. FOMO purchases carry the opposite risk: they tend to land near price peaks, when excitement runs hottest and prices sit furthest from what a company is actually worth.

Taking the emotion out of investing

There are practical ways to take the emotion out of it, and the survey points to structure over willpower. The Motley Fool's senior investment analyst Tim Beyers advises starting smaller than most people expect: buy a single share to build the habit, then set up a fixed monthly amount to invest on autopilot, whether in index funds or a short list of stocks added to in equal amounts. Automating contributions removes the hand-wringing over timing. Scheduling portfolio check-ins instead of glancing at balances every day cuts exposure to short-term swings. Beyers noted from his own record that panic selling cost him far more than it ever saved, including one early sale of a stock that later returned hundreds of times its original value. Keeping the long view helps. The broad stock market has averaged roughly 10% a year over nearly the last century, even with corrections every year or two, the Fool's research notes, which makes panic selling one of the costliest habits an investor can have.

Retirement savings is where this investing anxiety survey found the most damaging effects. About 32% of all respondents said their retirement situation affects their mental health negatively, and among those, nearly half said the stress causes them to save less or stop saving entirely. Only a minority said the pressure motivates them to save more, which means anxiety about falling behind can quietly make the shortfall worse. The picture flips for people who feel on track or ahead, where most said their retirement progress supports their mental health. The lesson of this investing anxiety survey is less about market knowledge than about routine: automatic contributions and scheduled check-ins turn investing into a habit (Stacker's breakdown of the findings), and habits do not panic.