Are next-gen Singaporeans keen on investing?

One in two among people aged 18 to 35 said it is important to invest early.

One in two next-gen Singaporeans aged between 18 to 35 believes that it is important to start an investment journey early, according to Next-Gen Investor Survey by Franklin Templeton.

Franklin Templeton, however, found in the survey of 502 respondents that limited budget (36%), fear of incurring losses (32%), and lack of investment knowledge (28%) were the key challenges faced when mulling investment.

A third also find investing difficult and expressed in making the right investment, it said.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected the young investors financially, with 29% of respondents saying they were positively affected, 33% said the pandemic did not have an impact, and 39% were negatively affected. Respondents who were affected positively invested more (71%) since the start of the health crisis, whilst 59% of those not affected and 40% of those negatively affected had invested.

One in two of the respondents were also expecting a salary increase in the next year as the economy of Singapore recovers.

Of the respondents, 37% had monthly personal income below S$3,000, 31% between S$3,000 and S$5,999; 20% between S$6,000 and S$9,999; and 11% above S$10,000. 83% of them save monthly and 50% set aside monthly spending for investment.

The average annual investment among them is slightly above S$18,000 and dollar-cost averaging through recurring investments (56%) topped lumpsum (24%) as their preferred approach. A total of 57% of them adopted a “60% equity and 40% fixed income” asset allocation, while 23% were employing other allocation strategies and the rest do not have a strategy.

More than half of them or 52% were expecting more than 10% annual returns, followed by 33% who were expecting 5% to 10% and 15% were expecting 1% to 5% annual returns.

Dora Seow, Country Head for Singapore, Franklin Templeton, said young investors who are maximizing returns in non-traditional asset classes in platforms such as cryptocurrencies should consider “diversifying” their portfolio “to better ride out high volatility in such spaces.”

“We would encourage young investors to remain invested over the long term and rebalance their portfolio on a regular basis in line with their risk tolerance and investment goals as they grow through different milestones in their life,” she said.

Respondents currently hold at least one investment product in their portfolio including equities (36%), fixed income (29%), cryptocurrency (28%), exchange-traded fund (25%), and mutual funds (23%).

Aside from investing, next-gen Singaporeans are citing financial freedom (66%), living a happy life (64%), and good health (62%) as the most important goals in life, Franklin Templeton said.