Young people aged 25 to 34 are the fastest-growing demographic for financial advice, according to Luno, as they pour money into cryptocurrency.
A survey of 6,000 people globally by Luno and YouGov found those aged 25 to 34 years in Australia were more likely to seek financial advice than any other age group.
Some 31% had sought advice on investments, 26% on debt, 25% on long-term savings and 22% on budgeting and financial planning.
This included many whom were investing in cryptocurrency, indicating they felt they were lacking sufficient information for their finances and were interested in their financial wellbeing.
Some 90% of cryptocurrency investors, across all age groups, said they had sought out financial advice in some form compared to 68% of the general population. Almost half (46%) had inquired about investments and 39% had sought advice on long-term savings.
The top source of financial advice in Australia was family while those in the UK sought advice from specialist personal finance media. In Africa, respondents were most likely to seek advice from financial services companies.
Australians were also more likely to be investing in cryptocurrency to save for a property with 41% of respondents stating this was the reason, rising to 52% for those aged 25 to 34.
Luno said this indicated that cryptocurrency was not necessarily being viewed as a form of short-term trading but something that investors were using to meet long-term goals with over a quarter indicating they would hold it for over five years.
They also accompanied their crypto investments with savings with 78% of crypto investors saying they were regular savers and the majority had less than 10% of their assets invested in cryptocurrency.
Marcus Swanepoel, chief executive of Luno, said: “We can see that people who own cryptocurrencies tend to have healthy financial habits. Crypto investors are financially savvy, they save more regularly, they own a more diverse range of assets, and they have long term goals”.
Byron Goldberg, Australia country manager, added: “Given that Aussies are focused on long-term goals and anxious about retirement, we need to break out of the perception that crypto is a complex, boom-and-bust asset and start showing people that it is an essential contributor towards their future aspirations”.
