Will millennials choose crypto investment over stock in the future?

For now, millennials are still leaning towards traditional stocks over crypto as an investment opportunity, but is change on the horizon for this demographic?

Without providing investment advice, the short answer to whether stocks or crypto is a better investment depends on what your financial needs and wants are. According to a report in Yahoo Finance Singapore, millennials should already be considering both stocks and cryptocurrency.

In the report, Catherine Seah, a student financial advisor, said “your financial portfolio should be diversified and you can always choose to invest in both stocks and crypto” and Asheesh Chanda, CEO of Kristal.AI, a digital-first private wealth platform in Singapore, added: “each mode offers certain benefits and incurs certain costs.”

Meanwhile, Colette Low, a private university undergraduate, said stocks as a “good long-term investment”. Low, who has been investing around S$5000 a year since she was 19, added that she makes most of her financial decisions after reading up about them online via social media.

She added, “stocks are considered a less risky option since they don’t require much financial commitment”.

However, the experts also suggested that young investors should not stake their important life goals on these investments, and to keep it within 5% of their financial portfolio.

Chuin Ting Weber, CEO of MoneyOwl, said to focus “on more important financial goals like planning for a house because that’s the reliable, tried-and-tested stuff,” as that “the potential return from stocks is speculative, and there is just too much uncertainty”.

Crypto, meanwhile, is also moving up globally as a viable investment option for youths. 

According to a Bankrate survey, millennials expressed the most comfort of all age groups with cryptocurrency. Meanwhile, other survey data from financial site Capitalize revealed that 54 per cent of millennials are intending to include cryptocurrency as part of their retirement strategy.

Although it can be a high-risk gamble, many millennials believe that the payoff would be worth it as long as you know what you’re doing. And because the cryptocurrency industry is booming, more companies are jumping on the bandwagon to make it easier for millennials, in particular, to invest.