People are feeling compelled to take on greater risks to compensate for Covid-19 uncertainty and concerns caused by rising inflation, according to a retail investment study by global asset manager Schroders.
Southeast Asian investors are turning to riskier investments amid pandemic uncertainty, particularly in Thailand (42 percent), Indonesia (40 percent), Singapore (40 percent) and Malaysia (38 percent), Schroders said in its 2021 «Global Investor Report.»
«Our research indicates that many people feel they now have to take on more risk in pursuit of returns given the current pandemic. The challenging economic conditions that we have seen over the past year have likely played a part in this. Amid the low interest rate environment, riskier investment choices have unsurprisingly become more compelling,» Lesley-Ann Morgan, head of multi-asset strategy at Schroders, said.
Interest in Crypto
As a whole, Southeast Asians (40 percent) were more willing to allocate to high-risk asset investments, such as crypto or sector-specific funds, compared to their global peers (37 percent).
Some 46 percent of Southeast Asian investors (versus 33 percent globally) also said they are considering high-risk growth cryptocurrencies, the report said.
Mental Health Effects
Schroders noted the high-risk appetite is despite 68 percent of Southeast Asian investors (versus 63 percent globally) said that investment performance impacts their mental health.
Many of the survey's 24,000 respondents were investing in new, higher-risk asset classes for the first time in pursuit of returns.
