Stocks are now 28% of Americans’ investment of choice, dethroning real estate as the most popular long-term investment in 2020, according to a survey of more than 1,000 Americans from June 29 to July 5 by Bankrate, a New York-based consumer financial services company.“The way the stock market is viewed by individual investors can be very fickle,” said Greg McBride, senior vice president and chief financial analyst at Bankrate.
“We see some demographic overlap [with new trading apps] for sure. Millennials had a notable shift away from real estate and toward stocks,” said McBride. Older millennials were more likely to favor the stock market, with 33% choosing it as their favorite long-term investment. Only the silent generation had a stronger affinity for stocks .
“There continues to be evidence of rattled nerves from the sharp swoon earlier in the year… More said they were going to invest less aggressively because of the pandemic. It’s love it or leave it — there’s not a whole lot of middle ground, it seems,” said McBride.