Where will Australians keep their money to hedge against inflation and interest rates?

Send Money Australia presented 10 options to respondents, asking where they believe would be the best place for Australians to hold their money, with return on investment in mind.

The survey found that, in the current climate, high interest savings accounts was chosen by the largest proportion of respondents (25 per cent) as offering the best return on investment and therefore the place to put their money in.  Superannuation was chosen by 22 per cent of respondents as the best place to put their savings while inflation and interest rates are climbing.

Next, 18 per cent of respondents say an investment property is the best place for their money, while 11 per cent chose shares.

Where do you think is the best place to put your money in, and will yield the best return on investment?

A small minority of respondents (7 per cent) chose gold, silver and other precious metals, and 6 per cent chose multiple investments in a diversified index fund.

Only a small number of respondents believe that exchanging currencies would yield the best return on investment: 5 per cent said a stronger foreign currency is the best place to hold money, while 3 per cent would transfer their Australian dollars into specific cryptocurrency.

A mere 2 and 1 per cent of respondents, respectively, think overseas investments or valuable collectibles is the best place for their money.

Send Money Australia analysed responses across the five major States. Across most States, the highest proportion of respondents believe that placing their money in high interest savings accounts with the banks will yield them the best return on their investment. The State leaning towards this option most is Western Australia, with 31 per cent of respondents choosing it, compared with just 22 per cent of Victorians.

In fact, 23 per cent of Victorian and 27 per cent of West Australian respondents would rather put money in superannuation.

The lack of trust in cryptocurrencies as a form of investment was evident across all major States, but particularly NSW and South Australia, where an equal 1 per cent of respondents chose this avenue as the best place for money. The State with the most trust in cryptocurrencies as a place to hold money is South Australia, even though just 7 per cent of respondents chose this avenue.

The rest of the states aligned with the consensus: 21 per cent of Victorians; 20 per cent of Queenslanders, 17 per cent of NSW respondents, 16 per cent of West Australians and 15 per cent of South Australians all believe that investing savings into real estate will both yield the greatest return and minimise impacts on savings from rising inflation and interest rates.

On the other hand, Australians do not trust their savings to be unaffected, or to yield a promising return, if invested into collectibles or overseas markets. Less than two per cent of respondents from all States chose these as the best places to store money and get a return on investment.

Send Money Australia found that opinions on where money should be kept to yield the best return on investment in a period of high inflation and interest rates differed across age groups. Younger generations were confident that putting money into investment property would provide more return on investment given
the nation’s current economic standing: almost a third (31 per cent) of respondents aged 18-34 years old chose this, compared with 19 per cent of 35-54-year-olds, and just 13 per cent of over-55s. On the other hand, the highest proportion of respondents who would put money into superannuation is over-55s (30 per cent). Just 20 per cent of 35-54-year olds and 12 per cent of 18-24-year-olds chose the same. Preferences around investing money in precious metals, collectibles, cryptocurrencies and overseas investments were unpopular methods across all age demographics, at similar rates.

Where do you think is the best place to put your money in, and will yield the best return on investment? By age.