- According to State Street, Millennials beat Baby Boomers and Gen X when it comes to investing in gold.
- Demand for this precious metal, widely considered a safe haven, remains strong as recession risks loom.
- Gold is up nearly 9% year to date and is closing in on the key $2,000 an ounce mark.
Buying gold isn’t really a gamble when it comes to investment strategies.
A safe-haven asset, protecting against market downturns and economic uncertainty, it provides stability under pressure, unlike riskier alternatives such as stocks. As such, the precious metal is likely an ideal choice for older, wiser and more cautious investors, such as those in the baby boom generation.
Not really, according to the world’s fourth-largest asset manager.
Millennials are the biggest investors in gold, beating baby boomers and Gen X by a wide margin, according to a State Street report, which cites the results of a survey conducted by SPDR ETFs.
“On average, millennials have a higher allocation to gold (17%), with baby boomers and Gen X lagging behind at just 10%. And millennials reported a greater appreciation for the convenience of “Invest in gold through exchange-traded funds (ETFs),” George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street, wrote in a report.
“More Millennials than Baby Boomers or Gen generation X,” he added.
Gold prices have climbed nearly 9% in 2023 so far – demand for the perceived safety of the yellow metal remains high as economic uncertainties run high, particularly with the looming risk of a recession, according to State Street.
According to the asset manager, up to 88% of respondents who currently own gold holdings believe the metal is a long-term investment. And more than 70% said investing in gold helped improve the performance of their overall portfolio, the report added.
“Among investors who hold gold, more than half of respondents said they plan to increase their gold holdings over the next 6 to 12 months. At 57%, the percentage of investors in gold ETFs who planned to buy more was slightly higher than investors in other gold investments such as bars and coins, company stocks gold mining companies, gold futures and options and commodity funds at 53%,” Milling-Stanley wrote.
Gold prices are currently rising towards the key $2,000 level – in reaction to recent dollar weakness and the potential end of interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. In general, falling interest rates tend to push up the price of gold because it makes the non-productive properties of the metal relatively more attractive.
