According to a new survey, nearly four out of five (79.1%) Americans have done nothing to their financial portfolio or retirement savings to combat generationally high inflation levels.
Previous polls found that 94% of Americans are unhappy or concerned about current inflation levels. But the actual level of Americans' inflation preparedness—or lack thereof—wasn’t fully known before this study.
, conducted by Gold IRA Guide and published on May 4, also revealed that traditional types of inflation protection, such as Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), have fallen out of favor as Bitcoin, silver, and gold have risen in popularity.
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Majority of Americans lack financial preparedness
The survey posed the following question to 2,502 American adults aged 35-plus:
"Which of the following investments have you recently added to your portfolio (i.e., IRA, 401k, etc.) in an effort to combat inflation?"
Nearly 80% have yet to take any action
9.4% have diversified their portfolio through precious metals like gold and silver
4.9% of those surveyed have added cryptocurrencies to diversify
5.3% diversified using real estate
Only 1.4% of individuals diversified with treasuries (TIPS)
One of the study's authors, financial writer Liam Hunt, commented on the importance of the findings:
"These new data paint a grim picture, one that depicts most Americans as unprepared for retirement. It also indicates a large discrepancy between what U.S. investors think and what they're prepared to do in order to curb inflationary effects. Although most investors are concerned about inflation, many are willing to stay the course and wait it out rather than react.
“Furthermore, it appears that traditional tools for inflation hedging, such as TIPS, are being phased out in favor of newer asset classes such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, or hard assets such as real estate or precious metals. Of those polled, 14.7% have diversified primarily with hard, physical assets."
In general, older respondents (aged 55-plus) were considerably more likely than their younger counterparts to be "riding out" inflation by not taking any action. About 70% more people in the oldest age group (65-plus) did nothing to their portfolio compared with the youngest age group (35–44).
And in terms of gender splits, women (83.4%) were more likely than men (74.4%) not to have diversified their portfolios. Among those who did diversify, women favored real estate (4.5%) above other asset classes, while men favored gold (7.9%).
Inflation can impact all corners of our life, from day-to-day grocery shopping to utility bills to car ownership costs. While dealing with these price increases is becoming more and more unavoidable, there are still ways to cut back on certain expenses—in particular,
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