Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, when asked for the secret of his success, said, "I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been." That's a lesson that applies equally well to the realm of investing. Investors can look to teens to understand how the consumers of tomorrow are spending their hard-earned cash, which could provide insight into the potential for success or failure going forward.
Piper Jaffray recently released the results of its semiannual Taking Stock With Teens survey, which seeks to understand the spending habits and favored brands among teenagers. The brokerage house surveyed 9,500 teens across 42 states, with an average age of 15.8 years and average household income of about $65,400.
Here are a few of the biggest investing takeaways identified by the survey.