Brits believe they lack the knowledge to invest
70 per cent of Brits think they lack the knowledge to invest, with many fearing they may become a victim of a scam, new research has found.
The study from the digital investment service Wealthify surveyed Brits who have at least £5,000 in cash savings but haven’t invested before.
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Over half (52 per cent) of people surveyed haven’t considered investing in the past year, and three in 10 people (28 per cent) state that they don’t feel confident investing because of the lack of education on investments in school.
66 per cent of respondents said that the thought of investing makes them nervous and over half (52 per cent) doubt that investing would benefit them financially.
A common misconception that the survey found was that the average amount people think they need to have to start investing is £41,354.
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“Many people believe that you need a substantial amount of money to start investing, but this simply isn’t true,” said Andy Russell, chief executive at Wealthify. “Wealthify was launched seven years ago with the aim of opening up the world of investing to anyone, not just the super wealthy.
“We believe that everyone deserves the chance to grow their money over the long term – that’s why we’ve broken down as many barriers as we could, offering investments from as little as £1, low fees, jargon-free communications, educational articles and tools.”
Wealthify’s research also found that older age groups were the least likely to invest their money, with just 20 per cent of those aged 66 and over having considered investing in the past year.
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Other barriers to investing include fear of getting scammed (71 per cent); lack of trust as to where their money will be going (69 per cent) and preference to put their money in a savings account (85 per cent).
“People think they need to be financial wizards to start investing, but the truth is that with online investment services like Wealthify you don’t need to have any investment knowledge to get started – you can now leave the heavy lifting to the experts,” added Russell. “But, if you are interested in building your own knowledge of investing, we provide plenty of resources to help you do that, with a jargon-free approach.”