logo
Baby Boomers are crypto's fastest-growing investors but they've been upstaged

Baby Boomers are crypto's fastest-growing investors but they've been upstaged

The Advertiser18-07-2025
Baby Boomers have become the fastest-growing group of cryptocurrency investors in Australia.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI), the number of Baby Boomers investing in digital currencies has quadrupled since 2019.
Almost a third (31 per cent) of Australian adults own cryptocurrency, the index shows.
Over-65s represent 8.2 per cent of Australians who own cryptocurrency, but that number has risen from two per cent in the last five years.
But the largest group of cryptocurrency investors is 25 to 34-year-olds with 52.9 per cent of holdings.
Seventy per cent of crypto investors hold Bitcoin, the Index found.
READ MORE: Inside aged care: what our elderly Australians are eating may shock you
Baby Boomers are particularly vulnerable to scammers as they generally have less digital knowledge than younger generations.
Cryptocurrency is unregulated and, as such, considered a 'high-risk' investment.
The boomer surge is partly attributed to recent retirees reassessing their investments.
The IRCI is an annual cross-sectional survey of more than 2,000 Australians.
READ MORE: Two charged after grandmother shot dead, police search for third gunman
Baby Boomers have become the fastest-growing group of cryptocurrency investors in Australia.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI), the number of Baby Boomers investing in digital currencies has quadrupled since 2019.
Almost a third (31 per cent) of Australian adults own cryptocurrency, the index shows.
Over-65s represent 8.2 per cent of Australians who own cryptocurrency, but that number has risen from two per cent in the last five years.
But the largest group of cryptocurrency investors is 25 to 34-year-olds with 52.9 per cent of holdings.
Seventy per cent of crypto investors hold Bitcoin, the Index found.
READ MORE: Inside aged care: what our elderly Australians are eating may shock you
Baby Boomers are particularly vulnerable to scammers as they generally have less digital knowledge than younger generations.
Cryptocurrency is unregulated and, as such, considered a 'high-risk' investment.
The boomer surge is partly attributed to recent retirees reassessing their investments.
The IRCI is an annual cross-sectional survey of more than 2,000 Australians.
READ MORE: Two charged after grandmother shot dead, police search for third gunman
Baby Boomers have become the fastest-growing group of cryptocurrency investors in Australia.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI), the number of Baby Boomers investing in digital currencies has quadrupled since 2019.
Almost a third (31 per cent) of Australian adults own cryptocurrency, the index shows.
Over-65s represent 8.2 per cent of Australians who own cryptocurrency, but that number has risen from two per cent in the last five years.
But the largest group of cryptocurrency investors is 25 to 34-year-olds with 52.9 per cent of holdings.
Seventy per cent of crypto investors hold Bitcoin, the Index found.
READ MORE: Inside aged care: what our elderly Australians are eating may shock you
Baby Boomers are particularly vulnerable to scammers as they generally have less digital knowledge than younger generations.
Cryptocurrency is unregulated and, as such, considered a 'high-risk' investment.
The boomer surge is partly attributed to recent retirees reassessing their investments.
The IRCI is an annual cross-sectional survey of more than 2,000 Australians.
READ MORE: Two charged after grandmother shot dead, police search for third gunman
Baby Boomers have become the fastest-growing group of cryptocurrency investors in Australia.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI), the number of Baby Boomers investing in digital currencies has quadrupled since 2019.
Almost a third (31 per cent) of Australian adults own cryptocurrency, the index shows.
Over-65s represent 8.2 per cent of Australians who own cryptocurrency, but that number has risen from two per cent in the last five years.
But the largest group of cryptocurrency investors is 25 to 34-year-olds with 52.9 per cent of holdings.
Seventy per cent of crypto investors hold Bitcoin, the Index found.
READ MORE: Inside aged care: what our elderly Australians are eating may shock you
Baby Boomers are particularly vulnerable to scammers as they generally have less digital knowledge than younger generations.
Cryptocurrency is unregulated and, as such, considered a 'high-risk' investment.
The boomer surge is partly attributed to recent retirees reassessing their investments.
The IRCI is an annual cross-sectional survey of more than 2,000 Australians.
READ MORE: Two charged after grandmother shot dead, police search for third gunman
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Australian farmers desperate for answers over unrealised capital gains tax as Jim Chalmers works to overhaul super
Australian farmers desperate for answers over unrealised capital gains tax as Jim Chalmers works to overhaul super

7NEWS

time2 hours ago

  • 7NEWS

Australian farmers desperate for answers over unrealised capital gains tax as Jim Chalmers works to overhaul super

Should you be required to pay tax on money that you haven't earned yet? That's the question being asked around a new tax brought in as part of the federal government's changes to superannuation. Treasurer Jim Chalmers is looking to overhaul the way super is taxed, changing concessions for super balances over $3 million. But the sticking point for farmers and farming families is the new tax on unrealised capital gains. This new tax will mean if an asset held in super goes up in value, the account holder will be required to pay tax on that increase. With the threshold for this change set at $3 million, it is being sold as a 'rich people tax' but that doesn't show the whole picture. Jack Neilson, a cattle farmer from western Queensland, said the new tax was going to hurt hard-working Australians — 'especially in agriculture'. 'Jim Chalmers needs to realise he's not just catching the yacht-owning yuppies with this $3 million rich people tax that they are trying to sell it as,' Neilson said. Neilson pointed to the difficulties in getting young people into agriculture, calling it a 'minefield'. 'What a lot of farming families do is that, mum and dad, the operators put the actual property into a self-managed super fund,' he said. 'That way it is then leased to the next generation so that the next generation gets going and starts their farming careers, essentially, and mum and dad still make, a little bit of an income.' Nationals Leader David Littleproud told farmers were doing what they could to keep their property in their family. 'Farmers' properties are their superannuation,' he said. 'And that's why when self-managed super funds came in, many farming families put their properties into these self-managed super funds, because that was a way — a vehicle — for them to be able to bring the next generation through.' The unpredictable nature of income as a farmer has raised questions about the practicality of paying tax on unrealised gains as an increase in the value of the land doesn't directly point to an increase in income for a farmer. Katie Nash, a farmer and rural advocate, has also questioned the policy. 'If the land value goes up but the income stays the same, how are they supposed to pay the tax without selling the farm?' she said. 'How are they supposed to survive that?' However not everyone is sympathetic to the situation. Graeme Samuel AC, a professor at Monash University's Business School in Melbourne, said putting property into super wasn't about inheritance — but tax avoidance. 'For those that are caught with unrealised gains, what I'd say is question number one: how did you get into this position in the first place? Why did you put these assets into a super fund? And be honest about it, don't give us the myth that it's all about providing for the next generation, because that's what family discretionary trusts are designed to do,' he said. The National Farmers' Federation estimates around 3,500 farmers will be directly impacted by the new tax. And they maintain that where income is made, tax should be paid. But when the gains are unrealised, they argue the tax just doesn't seem fair or justified. President of the National Farmers Federation David Jochinke said the law was going to force families to sell up. 'It just baffles me why we're even talking about something where we haven't got either the capacity to pay, or it's going to force family farms to have to sell an asset that not only the parents require for their retirement,' he said. 'It also takes away from that family farming unit, which we all know needs to stick together — especially in tough times — to survive.' Jochinke wants the government to reconsider the legislation. 'The principle of having to pay a tax on an uncystallised asset is completely wrong and what we consider un-Australian,' he said. 'Let's actually have a talk about how we can manage superannuation when the assets crystallise, when farmers have got the cash to pay. And that's what we're just calling for. Let's make this a common sense piece of legislation, not a ridiculous one.' Sarah Tulloch, a farmer from NSW who has seen first-hand the impact of the pressures farmers, said she was worried about adding another pressure on the industry. 'They will lose a lot more than just their properties. There's farmers committing suicide daily just with what they've got going on at the moment with droughts and floods,' she said. 'To add this extra pressure, for people who are already doing it tough ... yeah, it's just not going to have good consequences.' Treasurer Jim Chalmers has repeatedly said he is committed to an overhaul on super taxation, saying it will make a meaningful difference in funding other priorities. reached out to the federal government in response to the concerns from farmers and farming families. 'We listen respectfully to the NFF and farmers but this is a modest change, introduced in a methodical way, that won't affect the vast majority of Australians,' a spokesperson said. 'Our changes only apply to about half a per cent of people with more than $3 million in super, who will still get generous tax concessions, just slightly less generous ones. The changes are all about making our superannuation system fairer and more sustainable.'

New 50-year UK, Aussie military pact signed
New 50-year UK, Aussie military pact signed

Perth Now

time2 hours ago

  • Perth Now

New 50-year UK, Aussie military pact signed

Defence and Foreign Ministers from the United Kingdom and Australia have signed a new 50-year military pact designed to underpin Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. The deal was signed in Geelong on Saturday, the hometown of Australia's Defence Minister, and dubbed 'The Geelong Treaty'. Officials from Australia and the UK have been forced to voice renewed enthusiasm for the AUKUS agreement, amid a US review of the deal. America's defence and foreign minister-equivalents have not been part of AUKUS meetings in Australia this week. Donald Trump and UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer and expected to meet in Scotland this week. At Geelong on Saturday, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the new pact meant jobs and military security. The Geelong Treaty reaffirms the Australian and UK commitment to getting nuclear powered submarines. Gaye Gerard / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia 'It's a treaty which will last for 50 years,' Mr Marles said during a signing ceremony with his UK counterpart. 'It is a bilateral treaty which sits under the trilateral AUKUS framework, itself embodied in a trilateral treaty that was signed that I signed in Washington, DC., in August of last year. 'In doing this, AUKUS will see 20,000 jobs in Australia. It will see, in building submarines in this country, the biggest industrial endeavour in our nation's history, bigger even than the Snowy Hydro scheme,' Mr Marles said. 'In military terms, what it will deliver is the biggest leap in Australia's military capability, really, since the formation of the navy back in 1913.' Alongside Mr Marles, UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey dubbed the Geelong Treaty a powerful agreement. Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles, right, and UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey, second from the right, signed the Geelong Treaty on Saturday. NewsWire /Pool / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia 'It is a treaty that will support tens of thousands of jobs in both Australia and the UK,' Mr Healey said. 'It is a treaty to build the most advanced, most powerful attack submarines either of our nations have ever had. It is a treaty that will fortify the Indo-Pacific. 'It will strengthen NATO and we're the politicians signing it today; But this is a treaty that will define the relationship between our two nations and safeguard the security of our country for our children and our children's children to come. 'So this is a historic day.' The two ministers have been joined in a series of meetings by Foreign Minster Penny Wong and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week. The treaty signing also comes as the largest British flotilla in 30 years arrives in Darwin, with the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier docking in Darwin on Wednesday. It was the first time a British aircraft carrier visited Australia since 1997, and brought troops to take part in the massive Talisman Sabre exercises, which run annually across northern Queensland and PNG.

‘Good to go': Why now is the best time for Aussies to lodge tax returns
‘Good to go': Why now is the best time for Aussies to lodge tax returns

Perth Now

time4 hours ago

  • Perth Now

‘Good to go': Why now is the best time for Aussies to lodge tax returns

With the average Aussie tax refund sitting at around $1,177 ING's Matt Bowen shares his top tips on how to make sure you don't waste a penny. Patient taxpayers with simple affairs have been given the thumbs up to lodge their returns after more than 90 million pieces of information was pre-filled into Australian myGov accounts. Four weeks into the new financial year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) said 'it's time to lodge'. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: How to make the most of your tax refund. 'You've been patiently waiting, but now you're good to go,' Assistant Commissioner Rob Thomson said. 'Whether you lodge using a registered tax agent or lodge yourself through myTax, pre-fill information will now be available.' Thomson said taxpayers should check that pre-populated information from employers, banks, government agencies and private health insurers is accurate. They then need to work out what is missing and calculate any deductions they are entitled to. 'Don't forget that you need to include all sources of income in your tax return,' Thomson said. 'This includes side-hustles, linked income from providing ride sourcing services or selling services via an app. 'Remember, the ATO has 40 industry and occupation specific guides to assist you in what you can claim and what records are required to prove it.' Assistant Commissioner Rob Thomson said that the ATO had completed pre-fill of over 91 million pieces of information available for individual tax returns from employers, banks, government agencies and private health insurers. Credit: Australian Taxation Office Australians can file their tax returns from July 1, but experts suggest not getting twisted up in that date. That is because you want to make sure your document is complete and accurate before you hit the lodge button, to avoid a follow-up call from the ATO. CPA Australia tax lead Jenny Wong said it is not uncommon for early lodgers to have to amend their returns later, so holding fire can save you in the long run. 'Cost-of-living pressures could mean some people are eager to lodge their tax return as quickly as possible to access a refund, but it's important to be patient, gather your evidence and claim everything you are entitled to,' Wong said. 'Firing the starting pistol on your tax return too quickly means you could end up shooting yourself in the foot.' Deductions must be related to purchases made before June 30 if you intend to claim them in this tax return. What you can claim will depend on what you do for work. The ATO and accountants know the difference. 'It is important that taxpayers take reasonable care when lodging, as penalties may apply where people have not taken reasonable care and increase when they are reckless or intentionally provide false information,' Thomson said. More than $2.2 billion in penalties were dished out to taxpayers who failed to comply with their obligations in 2023-2024. October 31 is the deadline for Australians lodging their return themselves. For those using the services of a registered tax agent, you have more time — until May the following year. But make sure you have reached out to them and have the ball rolling before the start of November. If you fail to lodge in time, the ATO may impose penalties, starting with a $330 fine. 'We will consider your circumstances when deciding what action to take,' Thomson said. 'It is important that taxpayers take reasonable care when lodging as penalties may apply where people have not taken reasonable care and increase when they are reckless or intentionally provide false information. 'Our preferred approach is to work with taxpayers to help them meet their tax obligations.' Most refunds are issued within two weeks, but the process can take longer if the ATO has queries. 'This process cannot be sped up, even if you call us,' Thomson said. 'You can keep track of your return by logging into the ATO app or ATO online services through myGov. Paper tax returns can take up to 50 days to process. Wong said there is a misconception that lodging your return straight away puts you at the front of the queue for a refund, 'but it's not that simple'. 'Take your time, get your facts right, and lodge a full and comprehensive claim when you're ready,' she said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store