2025 Investor Insights Survey: 68% plan to expand or shift strategies

2025 Investor Insights Survey: 68% plan to expand or shift strategies

While it’s true that the last few years have been challenging in terms of inflation, geo-political turmoil, and higher-than-average interest rates, in good news, the majority of investors who responded to SoFi’s 2025 investing survey revealed some strong, forward-looking sentiment.

Of the 1,000 investors we surveyed, close to 90% invested money in their portfolios over the past year. In addition, nearly two-thirds (65%) said they feel optimistic or content about their investments over the past year, and a full 68% plan to expand or shift their investing strategies in the coming months — all indicators of investor confidence.

Similar to the SoFi Investing Survey for 2022, investors also shared insights about how they manage their portfolios, how they handle investing stress, where they stand in light of crypto, and more.

Key survey findings

• More than two-thirds of investors (68%) said they plan to shift their strategies in some shape or form in 2025 — whether by increasing their portfolios, buying a new type of investment, working with an advisor, or doing more research.
• Despite inflation concerns, rising prices only made 19% of investors want to invest less in their portfolios, while 82% either wanted to invest more or maintain their holdings.
• Optimism remains high, as nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents said they feel either optimistic or content about their investments over the past year.
• Despite volatility in 2024, 73% of investors chose to hold onto their assets and wait things out, while another 23% primarily bought investments.
• Investors’ top strategy for coping with the stress of market volatility was to arm themselves with knowledge, with 24% conducting their own investment research.

Looking back at 2024, investors feel positive

No question: Last year was fast paced and dynamic, and investors had to keep their eyes on a number of factors. Nonetheless, nearly two-thirds of the investors we surveyed were optimistic or content when looking back at their investments; and fewer felt stressed.

SoFi

Nearly 40% didn’t stress about the markets; others found ways to cope

How to remain calm in the face of uncertainty? First, a striking 40% of investors didn’t experience tension about the markets. Others turned to some smart strategies for peace of mind.

SoFi

Looking to grow in 2025

Even with the wide range of investor experience, the overall mood about the investing year to come seemed to be positive.

68% of respondents plan to make some changes to how they invest over the next year

As noted, most respondents have decided to change their plans, and 28% of them want to invest more into the market. In addition, some investors plan to work with a financial advisor, or do their own due diligence and dig deeper into investment research.

Here’s the breakdown:

SoFi

Here’s what investors’ portfolios look like right now

This overall positivity makes sense. After all, the market has kept up a steady pace, even as inflation has lingered, and there are reasons investors may want to lean into that feeling of confidence. More than one-third (35%) of respondents report having more than $200,000 in their investment portfolio. Here’s the breakdown:

SoFi

Most investors (76%) said stocks are the most common investment in their portfolios. Mutual funds, cash, and bonds were the next most popular investment types.

SoFi

87% of respondents have invested over the past year

Nearly nine out of 10 respondents invested money into their portfolios over the past year. Men were more likely than women to invest — and invest more money when they did.

SoFi

More than 3 out of 4 people have invested in non-stock market-related assets

Investors seem to be taking an intrepid stance regarding their investments. In fact, 82% of our respondents invested money into a non-stock-market-related asset, including CDs (certificates of deposit), crypto, as well as gold and other commodities.

SoFi

Market volatility has impacted some investors’ purchase and investment decisions

Market volatility has impacted investors at all ages and stages, but many investors have held steady, with a relatively small percentage adjusting their plans or spending.

When faced with market swings, 73% of investors held onto their assets last year

Investors seemed to take a philosophical approach to last year’s volatility. When we asked investors how they coped with market swings over the past year:

SoFi

The investors who sold some of their assets ultimately sold less than half of their portfolio. Only 8% sold 76% or more of their total investments, an indication that many investors were able to resist their impulses.

Some investors may also enlist strategies, such as automating their investing and/or dollar cost averaging, to help them continue building their portfolio when the market is trending in an unfavorable direction. With dollar cost averaging, a fixed amount is invested at regular intervals to avoid trying to time the market.

Only 19% said market volatility has caused them to make impulsive investment decisions

SoFi

Market volatility has caused some investors to respond emotionally, with 19% saying market volatility has caused them to make impulsive investment choices.

But of the people who made impulsive investment decisions, 57% said they’re happy with their choice, and only 15% of them regret them. Maybe these emotion-driven decisions revealed new opportunities, or valuable perspectives on risk.

Only 12% had to cancel or delay plans or purchases over the past year because of money lost on investments

Fortunately, market fluctuations seemed to strongly influence only about 12% of the investors we surveyed. Of those who had to change their plans, here’s where they felt it most:

SoFi

Some investors are adding crypto to their portfolios

Crypto can be a volatile asset and risky, but a number of respondents are investing in crypto. In fact, a full 26% of respondents said they have cryptocurrency in their portfolios, and 66% of them even said they invested more than $500 over the past year.

Crypto investors tend to be male (72%) and under the age of 55. Less than one-third of crypto investors are female.

26% of respondents have cryptocurrency in their investment portfolio

Despite the ups and downs of the crypto market over the years, slightly more than a quarter of investors (26%) said they invested in crypto over the past year. Of these investors:

66% have invested $500 or more over the past year 72% of crypto investors are male, 28% are female. Of those who invested $5,000 or more in crypto over the past year, 78% are male. Only 16% of respondents aged 55 or older are invested in crypto.

Most investors with cryptocurrency in their portfolios have invested at least $500 over the past year:

SoFi

Only 4% of investors who have cryptocurrency in their portfolio haven’t invested anything into cryptocurrency over the past year.

A majority of investors are either confident or cautiously optimistic that crypto is a worthwhile investment

The crypto market remains volatile as worries of economic downturns continue to swirl, and political changes in the U.S. — and potential changes to how crypto is regulated — become solidified. Despite this financial climate, most investors are hopeful of the future.

Among all investors:

SoFi

Of the 26% of investors who currently have crypto in their portfolio, however:

SoFi

Overall, the crypto market still has plenty of believers who are paying close attention to developments in the crypto market this year.

Many investors have investment regrets — mostly that they didn’t invest enough

Interestingly, investors don’t have many regrets about their investments over the past year. In fact, 46% said they have no regrets at all, and most others said they should have bought more assets.

Nearly half (46%) have zero regrets about their investments over the past year

Hindsight is never 20-20, and nearly half of investors realize that and are not caught up in regrets about what they woulda-coulda-shoulda done in 2024. Being older and wiser may play a role, as 77% of those with no regrets are 45 and up.

SoFi

That said, more than half (54%) of respondents have some type of investment regret this year. Many wish they had bought more assets, perhaps to take advantage of lower prices.

Here’s the breakdown of the investment regrets respondents had this year:

SoFi

People are split on how inflation made them feel about their investment strategies over the past year

Inflation can be a thorn in the side of investors. Our respondents were split in how they approached inflation over the past year. One thing is for certain: confident investors will continue to engage with the market despite inflation.

SoFi

The takeaway

With a new year comes new challenges. You never know what’s going to happen next, so it’s important for investors to take stock of their portfolios, solidify a strategy, and make plans for going forward. While the past year was one of many ups and downs, the coming year is likely to bring the same. But as the data shows, investors remain optimistic.

This story was produced by SoFi and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.