By Jacob Wolinsky. Originally published at ValueWalk.
50% of professionals have sought out more risky ways of investing their cash
Q4 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Some journalists and economists believe the pandemic boosted many Americans’ savings. These additional savings gave professionals and everyday investors more funds to invest in traditional assets like stocks and seek out more stimulating (and speculative) ways of deploying their cash (like cryptocurrencies).
Even as millions were laid off in the pandemic, many people’s bank accounts flourished, flush from stimulus checks and government cash infusions into the economy. On Blind, the largest anonymous professional network, we ran a survey from 3.16-3.22 and asked over 3,800 users:
- Did the pandemic boost your savings account?
- Are you actively interested in traditional assets like stocks and bonds?
- Have you recently sought out more risky ways of investing your cash (ex. crypto)?
Pandemic Boosted Savings Account
According to data gathered by Blind, 71% of professionals say the pandemic boosted their savings account. Finance professionals (76%) boosted their savings account marginally more than tech professionals (70%).
While people accumulated more money, traditional investments like stocks and bonds remained attractive. 85% of professionals say they are actively interested in traditional assets like stocks and bonds. Not surprisingly, finance professionals (88%) are more actively interested in traditional assets than tech professionals (84%).
More Risky Ways Of Investing Cash
While professionals and everyday investors still find traditional investments interesting, 50% of survey respondents have recently sought out more risky ways of investing their cash. Professionals in the finance industry are 10% more likely to seek out more risky ways of investing their cash than those in the tech industry.
For many investors, the terms crypto and blockchain have become part of everyday life and conversation. Since it jumped onto the scene in 2009, Bitcoin has become an overnight sensation despite the inherent volatility. In early March, we ran a survey from 3.01-3.03 with over 1,800 users.
Trust In And Ownership Of Cryptocurrency
According to data gathered by Blind, 50% of professionals trust cryptocurrency, and 57% own cryptocurrency at the moment. Most interesting in this data set is the willingness for professionals to accept cryptocurrency as payment in their total compensation. Typically total compensation is a combination of base salary, bonuses, and equity. 39% of professionals would accept cryptocurrency as part of their compensation. 80% of Credit Karma, 50% of Airbnb, and 47% of ServiceNow professionals would accept cryptocurrency as payment.
A Facebook professional on Blind shared, “Half my wealth in crypto- It’s the future of money, and you’ll probably do it too someday. Is it risky? Yes. But I am highly confident it will pay off.”
A different Facebook professional asked the Blind platform, “Best crypto to invest in at current prices- planning to drop all my bonus (30K) into new crypto, which crypto would you put your money in at the current prices? Target is 2 year hold. I’m ok taking risk.”
An Amazon professional posted on Blind, “One of my concerns is that people who don’t understand blockchains generally don’t mentally separate blockchain utilization (e.g., cryptocurrency) from the underlying technology that makes everything possible (the blockchain itself). It’s concerning because if people don’t make that distinction, then the failure of one or more trending cryptos will cause people to mentally write off the benefits of the potential benefits of the underlying technology. That’s why I’ve been looking at investing in currencies that exist on underlying systems that I think are scalable beyond simple payment ledgers.
I might just be a victim of the buzzwords and sales pitches, but decentralized systems are really interesting to me. I’m invested in BLOK and BLCN ETFs as well as SOL for altcoins, and they’ve done really well for me recently, but I’m wondering if anyone knows of any specific companies or projects that are doing promising work in this space”
The post Professionals Seek Out Risky Ways Of Investing Their Cash appeared first on ValueWalk.
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