One’awareness epidemic financial, this yes with positive effects, seems to have been unleashed among the young Italians after Covid-19. To date, one in two is thinking of saving and investing more, to improve their financial situation in the long term. A significant trend, perhaps dictated by the fact that children have suffered most of all the economic damage caused by the pandemic, which emerged from the Schroders Global Investor Study 2021 report.
The pandemic overall it was an unprecedented shock, one that will leave many aftermaths, but it has also prompted us to rethink some behaviors. The scope of investments it is far from exempt from this disruption, especially as regards the youngest, that the health crisis seems to have made them aware of greater foresight in terms of savings. An accentuated attention of young people to the future can be seen from the first results of the Schroders Global Investor Study 2021 research, conducted with the involvement of over 23,000 investors in 32 countries.
The acceleration of savings and investments
More precisely, from the reading of the disaggregated data for theItaly, it emerges that almost half (45%) of the investors of our country aged between 18 and 37 years old intends save more once the restrictions linked to the health emergency disappear: an opening that brings our young people closer to the figure of 52% found among those of the same age globally. Then restricting the observation to Italian investors of the Generation Z, with ages between 18 and 22, an even more accentuated propensity to save emerges with a percentage of 57%, even higher than the global average (52%) for the same age group.
Comforting data in terms of growth from the awareness between young on the importance of planning their future well-being, which however contrast with the profile concerning Italian and global investors over 38 years: only 32% of Italians and 43% globally declared that they will save more after the pandemic. Eliminating the distinctions by age group, it therefore appears that on average Italian investors willing to increase savings after the end of the crisis are 32% against 46% of global ones.
Well he 54% of Italian investors between 18 and 37 years old said it will increase the percentage of savings allocated to investments, once the restrictions are lifted, as it goes up to 71% for the Generation Z, compared to 38% recorded among the over 38. Consequently, 54% of Italian investors over 38 will keep the portion of savings dedicated to investments constant, against 31% in the 18-37 range and 14% in that 18-22.
The different reasons
Even at the level of reasons Discrepancies persist between the diverse generations: most Italian investors over 38 (58%) say they will increase investments as they “have confidence in the recovery and believe it is the right time to invest”, while the majority of young Italian investors (18-37 years) justify this decision, as “with the reopening the income will grow and there will be more resources available”.
These differences in the attitude towards the investments had already manifested in 2020, in full pandemic crisis, when 46% of investors between 18 and 37 years against 30% of Italian investors over 38 increased the percentage of savings allocated to investments, while on the contrary 47% of investors over 38 against the 25% of the youngest Italians (18-37) kept it constant.
Among those who invested the most last year, the reasons were similar: many had less expenditure and more resources available (55% over 38 and 43% between 18-37 years) and saw the crisis as a catalyst capable of creating many opportunities on the financial markets (43% over 38 and 50% between 18-37 years).
The prudence on returns
Regarding the returns annual averages for the next five years, the investors Italians show, as per tradition, greater prudence in relative terms, aiming on average to obtain a 8,2% compared to 11.3% of the global figure, despite the increase compared to last year (7.9% against 10.9% of the global figure).
the performance expectations they are much lower among Italian investors who declare they have basic financial knowledge, standing at 5.7%, compared to those with intermediate (7.4%) or advanced (9.9%) knowledge. The same is reflected globally where the figures are respectively 8.9%, 10.7% and 12.8%.
A major financial education it could lead Italian investors to recover ground compared to global ones also in terms of the interest placed in the financial well-being. In fact, while the outbreak of the pandemic led as many as 74% of global investors to spend more time thinking about this aspect and organizing their personal finances, the Italians on whom the crisis had this impact were 58%.