Young S'poreans hope to retire early by investing in crypto: Poll

OCBC survey reveals 3 disturbing insights into the mindsets of young investors

- Tan Ooi Boon Invest Editor

If you were lucky” enough to put just 1,000 into a crypto coin named after a dog two years ago, you would have around 2 million now, at least on paper.

With such a mind-boggling gain 200,000 per cent in this case who among us hasn't dreamt of pulling off an investment coup like this?

Hordes of investors share the utopian dream of becoming instant millionaires through some nifty trades in the digi-coin realm and there certainly have been winners mostly the founders and the early adopters.

But the reality is that there are probably far more losers as tens of thousands of defunct and worthless coins are now buried in the crypto graveyard.

Recent distressing accounts of people losing all their money when crypto banks or exchanges went bust seem to have done nothing to turn others off.

Indeed, about 40 per cent of young Singaporeans in their 20s and 30s surveyed by OCBC Bank said they were still hell-bent on betting on crypto in 2023.

The survey was conducted in August, about three months before the collapse of FTX, one of the biggest crypto exchanges. So it remains to be seen whether such investors will still boldly journey into such an investment black hole.

Even if it is not crypto, they will probably look for other get-rich-quick” schemes to bet on because the OCBC survey uncovered three disturbing insights into the mindsets of such young investors.

“I WANT TO BECOME RICH QUICKLY”

Many of those polled were inclined to charge into risky investments because they were concerned they might not earn enough from their jobs. Their worries might put them in a rush to build up their nest egg, but they might not be making informed investment decisions,” the bank noted.

So when some crypto platforms offered attractive 20 per cent returns that were payable weekly, many saw it as a golden opportunity to stop working.