Advisors are awash in demographic data and reports. To be sure, some are relevant because there’s no denying that demographics matter in the wealth management industry.
Whether it’s preparing baby boomers and their heirs for the great wealth transfer, devising strategies specific to women or embracing technology to increase appeal to Gen Z, advisors deal with demographics on a daily basis. While advisors shouldn’t make a full-time job of consuming demographic content, there’s value in some of it.
That’s especially true when it comes to clients’ affinity and motivations toward specific asset classes, including cryptocurency. Fresh results from the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey confirm what many advisors know about crypto investors, but those demographic tidbits are worth repeating. Yes, crypto is very much a young man’s game, but there’s more to the story.
Younger Women Sort of Interested in Crypto
The NBC poll indicates that in broad terms, 18% of men surveyed are likely to own or trade digital currencies compared to just 7% of women. That’s not a symptom of some mythical “crypto patriarchy.” Rather, scores of studies confirm that women, to their credit, are less willing to take on significant portfolio risk and that benefits them over the long-term.
However, that 7% isn’t static across all generations and that’s something for advisors to be aware of, particularly if they count younger women among their clients. Among women under 30 (Gen Z), just 6% own or trade crypto compared to 20% of men in the same age group, but that 6% is low enough that implies room for growth. In the 30-44 age bracket, 13% of women own digital assets, according to NBC News. Thirteen percent is a decent amount, particularly compared to the broader 7% mentioned above and it implies there’s room for more women to get involved with crypto.
As for why young men embrace crypto, a quarter of those in the 18-29 age group told NBC they like the asset class because they perceive it to be a "fast way to make money." Overall, just 15% of those queried said the same thing.
Something else for advisors to be aware of: young men that are crypto-enthused arrive there because they feel it’s an easy-to-access asset class and they enjoy the community elements that accompany investing in digital assets.
Politics Loom Large, Too
Obviously, the U.S. is a highly divided country, politically speaking, and that situation is worsening, not improving. We should all hope for improvement and for it to arrive soon. The divide is apparent among crypto investors.
“Twice as many Republicans (18%) say they own or trade crypto as Democrats (9%). President Donald Trump's administration has moved to enact new policies aimed at embracing crypto, and he and his family have launched their own crypto-related ventures in recent months, too,” reports NBC.
This isn’t political commentary, but what’s interesting about the party line crypto divide is that digital assets are inherently rooted in technology and elected Democrats are far more apt to invest in tech stocks than their Republican colleagues.
Related: The Brutal Reality of Crypto: Fast Gains, Faster Losses
