Looking to the future and deciding where to invest your time and money can be one of the toughest decisions a young person can make. Make the right choice and you can find yourself wealthy and happy, the wrong choice might leave you unfulfilled and broke. However, as this world continues to grow so do the opportunities for the youth. For any other generation, we would not be discussing the benefits of Bitcoin vs property, for the obvious reason that it was never an option.
However, in our modern world, investing your money in Bitcoin over property is very much an option. In fact, recent statistics indicate that is the desired option for 21% of UK millennials. A study found that 57% of millennials consider property a ‘high risk’ investment decision over the next five years and Bitcoin is seen as a better investment by 21% of them.
“For Millennials the soaring performance of Bitcoin – followed by an almost equally profound correction – holds more intrigue than the prospect of steady growth in house prices,” states the study.
Jeff VanNote, the founder of The Mortgage Quarterback
To get a better understanding of the potential of investing in Bitcoin over property, we spoke with US property expert Jeff VanNote, the founder of The Mortgage Quarterback, and author of The Mortgage Playbook for Millennials, along with Alexey Raevsky, CTO and co-founder of Bloomio, a Startup Crowdfunding Platform providing Crowdfunding Investment in Startups through the use of blockchain.
Though VanNote understands the potential money to be made in property, he is still fully aware of the attraction to cryptocurrencies stating “I personally own bitcoin and doubled my money in it. Once I doubled my money in bitcoin, I invested 50% of the profits into ripple (XRP) and Tron (TRX). I have not sold or purchased any since mid-December. I believe you should own Bitcoin as that has the best chance to see significant upside, as seen by the surge through the end of 2017, before the massive correction. Bitcoin is still up a large amount Over the past year, I believe almost double, if not more. I would recommend 10% of your net-worth in cryptocurrency, especially Bitcoin, at current prices.”
Despite the clear benefits of cryptocurrencies, it is obvious to VanNote that this is not the holy grail of investment, and property is still very much a golden opportunity as he adds “Real Estate will always be a more stable investment as people need places to live and there are great tax benefits. If it came down to real estate or bitcoin… I would pick Real Estate, due to it being a tangible asset at this current time.”
Alexey Raevsky, CTO and co-founder of Bloomio
Raevsky takes a far more analytical approach at understanding why a millennial might see this as a better investment opportunity and he advocates that “There are several factors that may explain the results of the poll. First, millennials tend to adopt shared economy, where owning any type of property looks impractical and old-stylish. Second, Bitcoin is more attractive emotionally for younger people as the symbol of the new digital era. Finally, they are talking about distant future plans. Presumably, they don’t have substantial amounts of money to invest now or in the near future. If the pool consists of high-net-worth millennials only, the result might be different.”
However, he does recognize that cryptocurrencies could be an investment not only financially but in the future, which represents change stating “On the other hand, we can see that cryptocurrency is massively considered as an investment instrument and it implies changing of the financial landscape in the coming years.”
Evidently, it is hard to know which will make for a better investment. Without a crystal ball, it comes down to a knowledge of the given market, timing and of course a lot of luck. But hey! Worst case scenario, you can always buy or sell your property with/for Bitcoin.
