KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The tech bubble wiped out Tyler Sadlow's first foray into the stock market. He had invested $100 in 1999 with his grandfather's help.

"We put it all in Level 3 Communications. So we lost all that money," said Sadlow, who is working on a graduate degree in accounting. "It was a lot of money for me."

Tough lesson for a 10-year-old and one the Lenexa, Kan., resident remembers at 23.

When he returned to the stock market last fall, Sadlow decided to take on less risk than a financial adviser recommended for someone his age. That meant less money in stocks.

Many young investors - confronting lousy markets and Wall Street scandals - aren't embracing the stock market as eagerly as their predecessors did. Others, caught in the economic malaise with low-paying jobs or no job at all, simply don't have money to invest.

The millennial generation has faced a tougher road starting out than most.