Younger non-investors aged between 20 and 40 are more aware of bitcoin as an investment option than any other asset class, research conducted by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) shows.
The study, which surveyed non-investors aged between 20 and 40, found that 70% of respondents were aware of cryptocurrency, compared to 59% who were aware of individual stocks and shares, and 49% who were aware of premium bonds.
Perhaps worryingly, 19% of respondents said they got their information about finances from Instagram, followed by YouTube (18%), websites in general (13%), Facebook (13%), Twitter (8%), TikTok (8%), LinkedIn (4%) and Reddit (4%).
Google was cited as the primary way of discovering more about investing.
The AIC's communications director Annabel Brodie-Smith said: "Some of us may find it shocking that young people are most aware of cryptocurrency as an investment option. But this demonstrates that the investment industry needs to do more to help young people understand the range of investment options, the risks involved and how investing can help them save for the future."
Respondents described their emotions around investing as cautious (54%), worried (41%), confused (39%) and stressed (25%), while the two positive emotions identified by non-investors were interested (43%) and excited (16%)
Men were shown as more excited about investing than women, at 32% compared to 12%.
“Lack of knowledge is the biggest barrier to young people investing but the cost-of-living crisis comes a close second. Clearly, these are challenging economic times and an increase in salary is the key catalyst to encourage people to invest with help from a financial adviser coming second,” said Brodie-Smith
54% of respondents described their emotions around investing as "cautious". However, the study also found that young people are interested in learning more about investing, with 81% of respondents saying they were interested in finding out more about investing now or in the near future.
Brodie-Smith said: "It's really encouraging that young people want to find out more about investing. We need to help them by providing clear information that's easy to understand online and on social media."
One investor likened investing to "glorified gambling... You put money into shares without knowing if it will go up or down and you could even lose that money forever if it goes bust".