Older Stock Investors Achieve Significantly Higher Returns – While Younger Investors Are More Optimistic About Investing

Are younger investors trading much more frequently and achieving higher returns? Far from it, as recent data shows, according to a new infographic from Block-Builders.net

For example, the annual portfolio performance for investors aged 66 and over (average 2019-2022) was 9.5%. The second most successful age group: those between 18 and 25. Nevertheless, the annual return here is significantly lower with a plus of 4.9%. Only the age group from 36 to 50 years experienced a minus. This amounts to 0.6%, according to a survey by BNP Paribas.

As the infographic shows, the share of equities in the portfolio composition is higher the older the investors are. Younger investors, meanwhile, also rely more frequently on ETFs and managed funds. In terms of the number of trades carried out annually, the picture is also different than some might suspect. Investors between the ages of 18 and 25 traded an average of 7.8 times per year in 2022, whereas the older generation made 29.6 trades.

Although the younger generation did not achieve the highest returns recently, they are particularly optimistic about equity-based investment. The DIVAX-GA Sentiment Barometer (values from -100 to 100) reached its highest value among the youngest age cohort with 47.9.

Men are still clearly overrepresented in equity investment. However, a change is emerging. For example, while just under 24% of active portfolios among 26 to 35-year-olds were still in female hands in 2019, the figure has now climbed to 31%.