CNBC’s Millionaire Survey Is Out, And It’s Surprising

CNBC’s bi-annual Millionaire Survey was released this week chronicling how and where they keep their money, and for the first time, they came across something incredibly surprising: 47% of millennial millionaires surveyed have over 25% of their wealth stored in cryptocurrencies. Over one third of millennials have at least half of their wealth invested in digital assets. And when you survey the millionaire landscape as a whole? 83% of American millionaires have a total of $0 invested in crypto. NONE! And according to CNBC, only 1 in 10 keeps more than 10% of their wealth in crypto assets.

This stark contrast between millennials and everyone else highlights the “digital first” schism between generations in their investing mindsets. With millennials growing up around computers and smartphones, never paying with cash and being indoctrinated into the Venmo generation, digital assets are a natural progression for millennials, and potentially Gen-Z. An increasing number of millionaires are beginning to look past stocks and bonds in order to build wealth-focused portfolios, and there are a few key reasons why:

Higher Returns

Excluding the dramatic crypto crash of 2018, Bitcoin has consistently outperformed the stock market. A study out of the United Kingdom studied asset returns over the past 10 years and found that the FTSE 100 (the British equivalent of the S&P) returned a 7,38% annualized return on assets. Bitcoin in that same time frame consistently outperformed the market…