Crypto is losing some of its appeal as a long-term, wealth-building asset.
That’s according to Bankrate’s 10th annual survey on Americans’ favorite long-terms investments for building wealth. Just 6% of the survey’s 1,025 respondents picked crypto as their top long-term investment, down from 9% in 2021.
It was the least popular among the options given, which included real estate, stocks, bonds, and gold and other precious metals.
“When prices were going up, preference and opinions of crypto were much more positive,” says Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate.com. “Now that the prices are going down, the bloom is off the rose, even for younger investors.”
Crypto has been in free-fall for the past few months, with prices of most currencies crashing and major players going bankrupt.
So what are investors gravitating toward? Perhaps unsurprisingly, real estate was the top answer in this year’s Bankrate survey, with 29% of respondents saying it’s their preferred way to invest money they won’t need for at least a decade. That could mean buying an actual house, or investing in REITs or another fund, says McBride.
Real estate has been the top answer for investors for three of the past four years, according to Bankrate. It’s particularly attractive to millennials, with 33% picking it as their top investment choice. McBride doesn’t see that changing any time soon, given millennials are at the prime home-buying age and that demand has been so strong for the past few years.
“The question’s been thrown out, ‘Are we in a real estate bubble?'” says McBride. “The demographics suggest that the demand is going to remain strong for years to come.”
The stock market, despite all of its volatility, is also still a top choice for investors looking to build long-term wealth. More than a quarter of respondents, 26%, picked stocks as their top choice, up from 16% last year.
Though that might seem counterintuitive given the market is down so much compared to last year, McBride says long-term investors are less spooked since they just watched the market rebound during 2020. The down market is having the reverse-crypto effect.
“In the past, [investors] have tended to respond more to volatility,” he says. “2022 has proven to be an anomaly, but a good one.”
Cash was the third most popular choice, with 17% of investors picking it as the best long-term investment. Cash was the third most popular choice, with 17% of investors picking it as the best long-term investment, down from 25% in last year’s survey
