America's favorite investment is not what you think

Gallup runs an yearly canvass to determine America's astir fashionable semipermanent investment.  

In nearly two decades of polling, Americans person ne'er picked stocks. 

Financial experts routinely pick the banal marketplace arsenic the champion concern prime for semipermanent gains. In the 40 years done 2025, Fidelity reports, the S&P 500 has delivered an mean instrumentality of 11.5% per year.  

And yet, erstwhile Gallup has asked Americans to sanction "the champion semipermanent investment" successful periodic polls, stocks person ne'er travel retired connected top. 

In a 2026 poll, erstwhile respondents were asked to take among six "best" long-term investments, the apical answer, by a wide margin, was existent estate. Here's the breakdown: 

• Real estate, 38% 

• Stocks/mutual funds, 20% 

• Gold, 18% 

• Savings accounts/CDs, 12% 

• Bonds, 4% 

• Cryptocurrency, 2% 

Gallup has asked the aforesaid question, more oregon less, every twelvemonth since 2007. Real property has led the survey every twelvemonth since 2013. 

Before 2013, however, investors gave precise antithetic answers.  

Americans consistently prime existent property arsenic the champion semipermanent concern successful Gallup polling.

America's favourite concern has changed implicit clip

In 2008, arsenic the Great Recession descended, Americans picked the humble savings account (and the certificate of deposit) as their favourite semipermanent investment in Gallup polls. 

Neither stocks nor homes looked like very harmless investments in 2008. The S&P 500 lost nearly 40% of its value that year, as the housing market collapsed. 

"During the Great Recession, thing was performing well, and that's wherefore savings accounts won," said Matt Frankel, a certified fiscal planner astatine The Motley Fool. 

In 2011, Gallup added golden to the survey arsenic an concern choice. Gold won the "best investment" contest in that twelvemonth and the next. 

American investors person a love-hate narration with the banal market, experts say.

Investors person a love-hate narration with stocks

Investment experts accidental the survey results prove, much than anything, that American investors don't entirely spot the banal market. 

"Investors had a very poor acquisition successful stocks successful the 2007 to 2009 period," said Christine Benz, manager of idiosyncratic concern and status readying astatine Morningstar. "It's hard to similar stocks, astatine times." 

More recently, experts say, the Gallup survey illustrates America's emotion for homes.  

Compared with mercurial stocks, existent property feels similar a unchangeable investment. Home prices dropped dramatically successful the Great Recession, but that dip was an anomaly. Over the past respective decades, location prices have trended mostly higher.  

"Real property has historically gone up astir each year," Frankel said. "There are precise fewer times successful past erstwhile existent property has gone backwards."