Millennials: Why This Market Crash Is the Opportunity of a Lifetime

As the old adage goes, “buy low, sell high”; now is the perfect time for millennials like you to invest in the stock market and ripe tremendous upside as a result when the markets recover.

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The word Millennial refers to the generational cohort that was born between the early 80s and the mid-90s. If you are a millennial reading this article, chances are you’re already part of the workforce and are seeking ways to increase your income through investing.

However, you might be fearful of investing your hard-earned money right now. Markets were already struggling with fears of the impact of the coronavirus epidemic when oil prices crashed as a result of new tensions between the energy superpowers: Saudi Arabia and Russia.

The result was a mass panic sell-off on the day’s opening, causing one of the worst declines since the 2008 Great Recession.

Yet, there is always an opportunity to be found within the chaos if you know where to look. As the adage ”buy low, sell high” goes, now is the perfect time for millennials to invest in the stock market and benefit from tremendous upside as a result when the markets recover.

An opportunity of a lifetime

Volatility in stock prices over the short term is not uncommon. However, the past two weeks have witnessed an upheaval that’s without comparison in more than a decade. Yet, this is why there is no better time to invest than right now. Here’s why.

Over short periods, markets can often behave irrationally, with prices being highly volatile. This can result from all sorts of influences independent of market performances, such as external events, misinformation, and uncertainty.

However, over the longer-term period, an asset is likely to revert to its intrinsic value. This means that whenever this is a mass panic-selloff of stocks and prices plummet, you have the opportunity to buy stocks at a huge discount. This allows you to grow your earnings considerably as the stock returns closer to its real value as the market recovers from the panic.

Invest in Telus while it’s still cheap

If you want to cash in on the opportunity but don’t have a huge appetite for risk, consider investing in Telus (TSX:T)(NYSE:TU). This quintessential blue-chip stock has a lot going for it that makes it such a worthy recommendation.

Here are just a few highlights.

Safety. Services such as the internet, phone, and cable have largely become a staple in Canadian households. Regardless of market conditions, people’s demand for these services is likely to remain consistent.

As one of the largest telecommunication providers in the country, Telus’s performance is mostly shielded from the effects of profound volatility.

A Dividend Aristocrat. For 16 consecutive years, the company has been hiking its annual dividend it pays to its investors. Currently, a yearly target of 7-10% dividend growth until 2022 has been set by the company in light of its rising cash flow from its growing customer base.

Plenty of room to grow for the company as newer technologies such as 5G enter the Canadian market and trends such as the Internet of Things continue to gain pace.

Summary

At the time of writing, its stock is being traded at $48.1, a fair discount compared to just a month ago, where its value was at $54.88. Invest right now and take advantage of its juicy dividend yield of 4.63%.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium service or advisor. We’re Motley! Questioning an investing thesis — even one of our own — helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer, so we sometimes publish articles that may not be in line with recommendations, rankings or other content.

Fool contributor Jason Hoang has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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