Gold, cryptocurrencies, real estate, ESG investments, what’s in the portfolios of Canadian Gen Z and Millennial investors? 

Quite a bit, actually. In fact, Canadian Gen Z investors are willing to invest compared to their counterparts in other countries according to 2023 research from the CFA Institute and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). They found that 74 per cent of Canadian Gen Zs who are between 18 to 25 invest a median of $9,000 and own at least one investment in crypto, mutual funds and individual stocks. 

But are their and Millennial investing habits any different from previous generations? We asked two Millennials and two advisers who work with Gen Z and Millennial investors what, where and how they invest or manage portfolios. 

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Sam Lichtman, a certified financial planner and owner of Millen Wealth Advisors says that younger investors like having control of their money. “But they are also willing, from my experience, to give it up [to be managed] if the value they’re receiving is over and above what they’re paying in fees.” 

Terry Wright, CIM and partner at LT Wealth Management, says that Gen Z investors have ETFs that track the market but are willing to take a few risks with their portfolios. “They believe that it is impossible to beat the market,” he says. “However, there's always a gambling side, knowing that they’re working and can recoup this loss through employment earnings. There's more exposure to crypto and fractional share trading.” 

What he noticed is that Gen Z and Gen X are similar with their wealth management. Boomers had company pensions that were often defined benefits, which meant more employer contribution and indexed to inflation. “Gen X often doesn't have a defined contribution pension plan. They're responsible for their own retirement savings.” 

Millennials, having a bit more investing experience, tend to set it and forget it, says Wright. “Passive investing index tracking is the best way to go. It reduces your risk of underperformance while saving you a ton in fees,” he says. “I would argue that Millennials, after getting a little bit of experience with gambling through crypto and cannabis, start to realize, ‘oh, okay, I can just set up an automatic monthly purchase plan or monthly contribution plan to an RRSP or TFSA, buy a low cost index tracking, or an ETF, and we're off to the races’”. 

Lichtman concurs. His higher-networth Gen Z and some of his Millennial clients have more alternative investments in their portfolio. “This aligns with the Bank of America study which shows that about 17 to 20 per cent of wealthier investors from ages 21 to 43 actually tilt their portfolios towards alternative investment.” He also said that by age 44 and up, clients have around five per cent of their money in alternative investments.

Elena Iacono, the founder of LegacyNex and a Millennial, says that her personal portfolio is diverse with ETFs, gold and some real estate from her and her husband’s property in Miami, Florida. They manage their portfolios on their own. It does help that her husband is a CFP and an adviser. 

However, Iaconco keeps her business separate. “I do have two advisors who are my partners for LegacyNext. I do talk to them to get their perspective. I'm trying to get advice  on becoming more independent so I can manage [the business] on my own.” She is also interested in increasing her real estate holdings and looking into venture philanthropy. 

Minnelle Williams, an end of life educator and owner of Ending Well with Minnelle, manages some of her investments and has advisers manage the rest. 

“It's been extremely hard for me to now continue trusting somebody else with my investments, especially with the tools that are available to us now to keep paying them for my mutual funds,” she says. “I am a big fan of my own investments, so I buy and hold with WealthSimple. I also use Questrade for Bitcoin and all of that fun stuff. But those I manage myself, and then I have everything through Fidelity and through Manulife, all of those that are being managed by the advisor.”

She said she didn’t get a lot of investment education growing up, just the usual ‘get a job, work hard and save your money for retirement.’ She found her investment community through TikTok and she and her friends are always talking about where to invest next. Right now, the conversation is around gold, which tends to become more popular as a steady investment when the markets are in turmoil. 

“We were trying to decide, do I invest in gold stocks, or do I actually want physical gold bars?” says Williams “We were having these bunker conversations, you know, when the world goes crazy, what are we gonna do? So the decision was actually, okay, let's go and start finding gold bars or gold whatever, and keeping those.” But it’s not all doomsday planning for Williams. “Because I need fun in my life, I invested in some art.”