Investing seen as best way to build wealth, but homeownership is safest
The Ipsos Consumer Tracker asks Americans questions about culture, the economy and the forces that shape our lives. Here's one thing we learned this week.
Why we asked: This was a question we got from a client, but it also resonated nicely with the American Dream issue of What the Future. So many paths to success on the economic ladder are being disrupted: Housing is harder for many to purchase, with high prices and high mortgage rates; the three legs of the stool that fund higher education in the U.S. are threatened, and education has always correlated to higher wages; the job market is being challenged economically but also by the rise of AI, etc. So how are folks supposed to build wealth?
What we found: We asked a two-part question: What are the three best ways to build wealth, and what are the safest ways to build wealth? Many methods were viewed as generally safe: education, owning a home, having multiple sources of income, and investing in real estate and to a lesser extent investing in stocks and bonds.
But when it comes to the best ways to build wealth, there wasn’t much consensus. That’s partially an artifact of asking people to select their top three vs. the scale of the “safety” question. Yet it’s also telling and hints at the vast differences when you cut by income or age. Americans over 55+ hold 75% of the nation’s wealth, according to the Federal Reserve, so they likely have a good idea how this works. Almost half of them list investing and four in ten say home ownership is a top way to build wealth. Younger age groups are much more divided. Among the 18- to 34-year-olds, for instance, just as many cite being an influencer (17%) as owning a home (18%).
Another interesting finding is that 18% say sports betting and gambling is a safe way to build wealth and 22% say crypto is safe. In case you’re wondering (I was), there isn’t really a gender split on that!
Perhaps it makes sense that those who have yet to build wealth are looking at so many different ways to do so when those traditional means like home ownership are threatened.
More insights from this wave of the Ipsos Consumer Tracker:
One in three Americans say Halloween is their favorite holiday
Are Americans privacy nihilists?
More Americans think news orgs can take an unbiased stance
One in three still say corporate DEI stances make them more likely to purchase
The Ipsos Vibe Check: Here's how Americans feel about the government this week
The Ipsos Care-o-Meter: What does America know about vs. what does America care about?
