Did you know that 34% of European adults, or 113 million people, invest, according to BlackRock’s recent People & Money report?
Germany, the UK, France and Italy have the most investors. However, for 56% of 18-34 year olds, a lack of knowledge or understanding was the top barrier to investing, followed by a lack of money, cited by 52% of respondents. Fear of losing money and a lack of time were other major reasons for not investing.
Carl Hazeley, the newly-appointed CEO of Finimize, a financial insights, news and research platform, addressed the idea that a lack of capital is a barrier to investing.
“It was true 10-15 years ago that you needed a certain amount of money to think about investing. And that’s just not the case anymore,” he said.
He highlighted that Finimize hoped to “increase the net worth of an entire generation” by providing the tools for users to “become their own financial advisor”.
In this episode of The Big Question, Carl Hazeley joins Hannah Brown to discuss the importance of investing, especially for younger people, while shedding more light on current investment trends.
Do Millennials and Gen-Z really need to think about investing?
Research suggests that a significant generational wealth transfer, worth about €73 trillion, is poised to happen in the next two decades in the US, with Gen Xers and millennials mainly receiving the money via inheritance.
This potential wealth redistribution has made it more crucial for younger investors to learn how to invest and compound their funds.
Current global economic conditions, such as high inflation, also risk eroding bank funds.
“If inflation is at 2% for 30 years: €1,000, it’s worth €500. If inflation is at 10% for seven years, that €1,000 goes to €500,” Hazeley said.
“Investing broadly helps shield you from that impact, it’ll grow your money, at least in line with inflation, hopefully more. And that means, when you get to later stages in life, you have a nest egg to retire with.”
Longer life spans and more sophisticated healthcare are making retirement more expensive too.
“There’s a generation of people, millennials and downwards, who are sleepwalking toward a retirement where with rising life expectancies, improved medications, we’re all going to live much longer and have no money to fund that retirement,” Hazeley explained.
“That’s why it’s never been more important to take advantage of education and for modern retail investors to invest.”
Newsletters, websites and podcasts can all help with investing knowledge, with just 5 to 10 minutes a day, according to Hazeley, who likened it to “learning a language”.
“You’ll find eventually that you can join the dots between an event and a response,” he added.
However, it is vital to be cautious while investing, warned Hazeley: “If someone’s guaranteeing a return, they’re either lying to you or breaking the law. No real investor can guarantee anything.”
Is investing accessible to everyone?
The rise of smartphones and online investing content has made investing more accessible than ever before, according to Hazeley.
Although Finimize has played a role in improving accessibility to investing content, there’s still a long way to go.
“I can’t confidently say that it’s as accessible as it needs to be for everyone. I think that’s a moving target, and it’s a goal that the industry should aspire to. If it was accessible, I think we’d be having a very different type of conversation, even on the same topic,” Hazeley said.
For those younger people who do invest, they are becoming much more conscious about the way they invest.
Around 42% of modern retail investors shared that they wouldn’t invest in something if it didn’t align with their values, even if it was profitable, according to Finimize’s Q2 2024 Modern Investor Pulse.
Similarly, 48% of respondents revealed that investing ethically was important to them, with thematic investing, both trend-focused and climate-focused, being especially important to millennials.
The Big Questionis a series from Euronews Business where we sit down with industry leaders and experts to discuss some of the most important topics on today’s agenda.
Watch the video above to see the full discussion with Finimize CEO, Carl Hazeley.
