UK interest in equities is high but so are barriers to entry
By Kirsten Hastings, 10 May 16
There is a healthy appetite in the UK to invest in equities but a lack of knowledge and understanding is preventing Britons from taking advantage of investment opportunities, according to survey of more than 3,000 people from equity crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom.
Younger investors are more willing to take greater investment risk, with Millennials seeing higher-return investment as a means to affording a deposit for a first home.
Over a third of millennials (aged 18-30) are focused on buying a first home, as a priority for their personal finances, though only 20% of those are on track to achieving that goal.
That seems to be the driving factor behind a greater appetite for riskier investments among younger generations.
Half (50%) of respondents aged 18-30 said that they were willing to take high risks with their investments, compared to those over the age of 50 with half the risk appetite and only 25% of respondents willing to take high risks.
Older investors are most likely to be self-taught at financial know-how, with individuals over the age of 50 most influenced by financial press for their investment decisions.
By comparison, only a sixth (17%) of potential investors under the age of 30 read financial press, and are three times as likely to source their financial information from friends and family (45%) showing a desire to learn more about the public markets and an active discourse among younger generations.
28% of respondents claim they don’t source any financial investment information.
