Canadians are curious about investing—and willing to take bigger risks

This may help to explain the results of a recent study, in which Canada made the top five countries that are most curious about investing.

Canada is the fifth-most investment-curious country

Analysts at foreign exchange firm BrokerChooser looked at Google searches for investment-related phrases in 17 English-speaking countries to pin down the most investment-curious populations. 

The data shows that Canadians conducted an average of over 14,500 monthly searches related to investing, including crypto, forex, stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and general investing. It’s about half the population-adjusted search volume of the #1 country, Australia, but noteworthy nonetheless.

Canadians are mainly interested in stocks and crypto, signalling potentially greater risk tolerance among investors. Indeed, 27% of Canadians say they are willing to take on more risk to boost their investment returns—a surprising statistic given an uncertain economic climate and rising cost of living.

Young investors lead in risk tolerance

Younger investors tend to be the most open to risk: over 40% of 18 to 25 year olds say they’re willing to take on more risk for the potential of higher returns, compared to just 12% of investors over 56.

And many are already taking action. A survey of 10,000 self-directed investors across 12 countries found that 54% of Gen Z investors and 62% of millennial investors already held crypto assets in their investment portfolios.

By jumping into riskier investments and new assets, young investors are already helping shape what the future of investing looks like.