1 in 5 Americans have crypto in their retirement portfolio, but which generation is really benefiting from it?

Cryptocurrencies have been making their way into mainstream investments for quite some time, including in pension plans. Despite the decline the space has suffered in recent months, some investors are still banking on the assets for the long term. But not all generations share the same attitude towards including digital assets in pension plans.

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A new GOBankingRates survey finds that one in five Americans (21%) say they have crypto in their retirement plans.

This is not surprising to many experts, including Jagdeep Sidhu, the lead developer and president of Syscoin. Sidhu said it’s important to have a wide variety of assets for your retirement, and he also said it’s clear that even with current market conditions, digital assets are here to stay.

“They are also growing at an astronomical rate. Digital asset networks represent a huge investment opportunity for many people, especially those who aren’t ready to retire decades from now, Sidhu said, adding that the risk and reward in the eyes of young investors is just too great not to take. up with this asset class.

Risks include extreme volatility, of course; but for those who can wait, there are also rewards. A decade from now, blockchain ecosystems will serve as important engines for the global economy, Sidhu said.

“So generations that grew up in the Internet world are naturally fascinated by the coming infrastructure of new Internet economies,” Sidhu said.

Gen Z and Millennials believe in crypto

Gen Z and millennials actually take the lion’s share as the generations most likely to include crypto in their retirement plans.

The GOBankingRates survey found that 29% of the 25-34 age group and 28% of the 18-24 age group have crypto in their retirement portfolio.

Ric Edelman, a former independent financial advisor and founder of the Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals (DACFP), said he is not surprised by these findings for several reasons.

First, younger people are more tech-savvy and are therefore more likely to be early adopters, he said. Older people already have most of their money invested and are less likely to seek new investment ideas, he added, and they are more likely to trust the advice of financial advisers — and few advisers recommend crypto.

“Older people use technology, but younger people are technological,” Edelman said, “And so, instead of being surprised that more younger people are buying crypto than older people, you should be surprised that there are some older people buying technology.”

Older generations have less crypto

Indeed, the survey finds that the older the age group, the less they have invested in crypto. This corresponds to 23% of 35- to 44-year-olds and 20% of 45- to 54-year-olds. The percentage drops significantly for Americans over 55: Only 8% of the 55-64 age group and a scant 7% of the 65 and over group say they have crypto in their retirement portfolio.

“Look, older investors aren’t necessarily shying away from allocating their investments to digital assets,” said Jacob Sansbury, co-founder and CEO of Pluto. “We certainly see strong evidence of growing interest among older generations to gain exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and other key digital assets.”

Sansbury added that while there is a growing institutional interest in crypto, digital assets only make more sense to generations of younger people who have grown up knowing nothing but the internet.

“In short, digital assets represent the economy of the internet,” he said. “So it makes perfect sense that the Internet-savvy generations would look to invest in the financial infrastructure of the Internet, which is largely an ecosystem for digital assets.”

Younger people have more time

Another factor is that the time horizons of younger investors are longer, so they have more time to deal with the volatility of the digital asset ecosystem.

“Since many blockchains are poised for long-term growth, when these young people retire, these ecosystems will likely be much larger and more valuable than they are now,” he said. “And it will be beneficial to fund their retirement.”

Finally, another finding in the survey is the gender difference. In fact, 30% of men say they have crypto in their retirement plans, compared to just 12% of women.

“I think we are seeing this disparity between men and women investing in digital assets changing, with more women looking to gain exposure to this emerging asset class in recent years,” said Santiago Portela, CEO of FITCHIN. “Having said that, some studies have shown that historically women have been relatively more risk-averse when it comes to investing. And of course, we all know that a salient feature of an emerging technology like digital assets is its volatility. This can be very frightening .”

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