A survey taken by Opinium finds effectively no IFA will recommend cryptocurrency or meme stocks to their clients. 93% of IFAs wouldn’t recommend cryptocurrencies and 95% wouldn’t recommend meme stocks, and 91% of IFAs would be concerned if a client was investing in crypto or meme stocks.
The research, conducted among 200 UK IFAs, finds a third (34%) of IFAs have seen an increase in clients asking about cryptocurrencies this year, while 14% have had more requests about meme stocks compared to last year.
Alexa Nightingale, research director at Opinium commented, “There is clearly uncertainty and concern in the industry, and advisors with clients of all sizes would be wary if their clients were investing in these products. However, these sorts of investments are becoming more mainstream, so it will be interesting to see how advisers navigate this in future.”
Adviser concerns are mirrored across those who advise clients of all portfolio sizes:
- 84% of IFAs with clients with portfolios under £100,000 would be concerned if a client was investing in cryptocurrencies
- 90% of IFAs with clients with portfolios between £101,000 to £200,000 would be concerned if a client was investing in cryptocurrencies
- 95% of IFAs with clients with portfolios over £200,000 would be concerned if a client was investing in cryptocurrencies
Despite these doubts, a third (33%) believe cryptocurrencies will become a legitimate investment vehicle in the future, with 24% thinking the same about meme stocks.
IFA Magazine did its small survey regarding Trading apps and the gamification of investing earlier this year, check it out here.