Women are more likely (28%) than men (18%) to be planning to sell at least part of their equity portfolios this year. Just 20% of women say they are somewhat or very confident in stock market recovery compared to 34% of men.
Lower- and middle- income households are also more likely to be facing the ‘bear market blues’ and having no confidence in equities, with 78% of those earning below $100K most likely to be planning to cash-out.
“Based on our data, we see that 1 in 4 Canadians are looking to minimize their market losses by cashing out in 2022. This could turn into a really big problem,” explains Romana King, senior finance editor with Finder. “We know that emotions can lead to inopportune market timing with people selling the dip and buying the peak. For investors interested in minimizing their losses, the key is to buy and sell based on market fundamentals, not fears about the market.”
Investing strategies
While 4 in 10 are adopting a long strategy for their stock market investing, income investing such as dividends and ETFs (9%) and index and a few select holdings (7%) are also top 3 strategies.
Younger Canadians are the most optimistic about equities currently with 40% of 18-26s at least somewhat confident in meeting their return expectations this year, compared to just 13% of 57-76-year-olds.
