A new survey conducted by global trading platform eToro has found more than half of the US respondents noted difficulties when transferring financial assets to another person.
When asked about transferability, half of millennials (born between 1980 and 1994) said that they would trade more often if it were easier; 61% of Generation Z (born in 1995 or later) agreed also.
Overall, three quarters of respondents indicated that they would invest more if trading extended beyond the traditional 9:30am-4pm window. This sentiment was agreed with among investors who fear market volatility; 78% of this group want to trade stocks past market hours.
Guy Hirsch, managing director, eToro US commented: “Investors want more freedom, especially in the face of economic headwinds and changing market dynamics.
“They’re unhappy with the financial status quo. If you grew up in the internet age, you expect more.
“As wealth is transferred to the next generation, and new technologies like tokenization make financial assets more transferable and accessible, we believe that younger investors will become more engaged.”
Recession looming
eToro commissioned the project through Provoke Insights, an independent market research and strategy firm, who conducted the online survey from July 18 to July 31, 2019 among 1,000 US online investors aged between 20 and 65 years old.
Arguably the most worrying statistic uncovered by the survey comes as more than two-thirds of US investors fear a recession “is looming.”
Survey respondents cited the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and China – as well as challenges with Mexico – as the most “prevalent geopolitical factors” that could impact portfolios before the end of the year.
Hirsch continued: “As global markets experience heightened volatility and as geopolitical tensions escalate, investors are seeking stability outside of the traditional stock market.
“Investors across all demographics are looking to empower themselves financially by diversifying their portfolio with new asset classes and exploring novel forms of ownership.”
Investors appear to be open-minded to converting part of their stock portfolios to comparatively safer investments or hedge with commodities, real estate, or crypto assets.
Generation X, born between 1965 and 1979, showed a preference for commodities, with 38% indicating that they would turn to them in the event of a recession.
40% of Millennials said they would prefer to invest in cryptoassets and 50% of Generation Z respondents would opt to invest in real estate.
Among all respondents the concept of fractional ownership of a local business was appetising – more than 80% expressed an interest in owning this type of asset.
Meanwhile, 82% of respondents would like to own a portion of landmark real estate, and 68% would purchase shares of music rights.
More than half (55%) indicated that they would sell a portion of their stock portfolio to fund their investment in fractional ownership of these new types of assets.
“We believe that if a recession were to occur, we’d see shrinking stock portfolios and growth in other asset classes like crypto, as well as new fractional ownership models,” added Hirsch.
“Historically, these investment opportunities have been limited to high net worth and institutional investors, but innovation is unlocking these opportunities for everyday investors and clearly, these results indicate that the demand is there.”
