1 in 5 Americans Has Crypto in Retirement Portfolio, but Which Generation Is Really Banking on It?
Cryptocurrencies have been making their way into mainstream investing for quite some time, including in retirement plans. Despite the downturn the space has been suffering for the past few months, some investors are still banking on the assets for the long term. But not all generations share the same stance regarding incorporating digital assets in retirement plans.
A new GOBankingRates survey finds that one in five Americans (21%) say they have crypto in their retirement plans.
Older Generations Have Less Crypto
The survey indeed finds that the older the age group, the less they have invested in crypto. That translates into 23% of the 35- to 44-year-olds and 20% of the 45- to 54-year-old group. The percentages drop significantly for Americans over 55: Just 8% of the 55-64 age group and a meager 7% of the 65-and-over group say they have crypto in their retirement portfolios.
“Look, older investors aren’t necessarily shying away from allocating their investments towards digital assets,” said Jacob Sansbury, co-founder and CEO of Pluto. “We certainly see strong evidence of rising interest among older generations in getting exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other important digital assets.”
Sansbury added that, while there is an increasing institutional interest in crypto, digital assets just make more sense to generations of younger people who have grown up knowing nothing other than the internet.
“In short, digital assets represent the economy of the internet,” he said. “So, it makes perfect sense that the internet-savvy generations will look to invest in the economic infrastructure of the internet, which, broadly speaking, is a digital asset ecosystem.”
Younger People Have More Time
Another factor is that the time horizons for younger investors are longer, so they have more time to handle the volatility of the digital asset ecosystem.
“Since many blockchains are poised for long-term growth, by the time these young people retire, these ecosystems will likely be much bigger and more valuable than they are now,” he said. “And that will be beneficial for funding their retirement.”
Finally, another finding of the survey is the gender gap. Indeed, 30% of men say they have crypto in their retirement plans, compared to only 12% of women.
These excerpts originally appeared on Yahoo!: https://www.yahoo.com/video/1-5-americans-crypto-retirement-110025925.html
