Millennial investors more likely to manage their money online: ATB Investor Beat

EDMONTON, Oct. 26, 2017 /CNW/ - With the surge in FinTech (financial technology) innovation in recent years, younger tech-savvy investors are pairing an increased ability to invest online with a preference to do it themselves, according to the latest ATB Investor Beat survey.

"Online investing isn't new, but the fast pace at which it's evolving to make managing your money easy, informative, and accessible is particularly appealing to the millennial generation," says Chris Turchansky, president of ATB Investor Services.

Millennials also report being much more comfortable managing money online (43 per cent) compared to Gen X (27 per cent) and Boomers (22 per cent). Despite this online comfort, just one in four millennial investors agreed they are familiar with their investment risks and understand the types of investments they have.

While viewing investment balances online is common across all age groups, millennials are more likely to do online research than their older counterparts, such as researching investment products, approaches, and firms. "It is important that as an industry we make investing smart, simple and helpful to help investors reach their goals, which includes educating investors," says Turchansky.

Even with their proclivity for consuming information online, and their preference for investment independence supported through advances in FinTech, a third of millennial investors don't invest online exclusively—they engage the help of an advisor as well.

It's not just millennial investors who use a combination of online investing and support from an advisor. While 57 per cent of Albertans report viewing their investments online, only 23 per cent have purchased or sold investments online and, of those individuals, 42 per cent continue to also invest with a financial advisor.

Regardless of age, the primary reasons for investing online are similar: lower fees (55 per cent), scheduling ease (45 per cent), and ease of set up (26 per cent).

Other highlights of this quarter's ATB Investor Beat survey include:

• For those Albertans who think that now is a good time to invest, 10 per cent more than last quarter cite a better/stable economy as the reason for feeling this way.
• While overall optimism towards investing remained steady over the past several quarters, Albertans report a decline in their positive outlook towards real estate this quarter.
• 54 per cent of Albertans report feeling impacted by the drop in oil price. This includes 54 per cent of millennial respondents, 59 per cent of Gen-Xer respondents, and 47 per cent of Boomer respondents. 
• Respondents who feel behind on saving for a house is up 10 per cent vs the same time last year (58 per cent vs. 48 per cent), while 58 per cent feel behind on building an emergency fund and 52 per cent feel behind on saving for a major purchase.

The ATB Investor Beat survey was conducted by Ipsos from July 20-29, 2017 and involved 1,004 participants. Results are considered accurate to within plus or minus 3.5  percentage points.

View the latest issue of ATB Investor Beat. 

About ATB Financial
With assets of $48.6 billion, ATB Financial is Alberta's largest home-grown financial institution. Established in 1938, ATB is a network of 173 branches, 143 agencies, a Customer Care Centre, two Entrepreneur Centres, along with mobile and online banking. ATB's more than 5,000 team members help more than 730,000 customers in 247 Alberta communities. 

SOURCE ATB Financial