Strong UK savings culture – but persistent investment gap

At a glance

• 10 million UK savers are interested in investing, but don’t take the next step. Many feel investing is complex, unfamiliar or ‘not for people like them’.
• Nearly 40% of savers are more likely to invest after a conversation about it with someone they know.
• Normalising investing could prompt more people to start doing so.

How can we get more people to invest? For savers, it’s the next step, according to a UK-wide campaign aimed at encouraging UK savers to invest for long-term growth – and closing the UK’s persistent investment gap.

Invest for the Future is a multi-year campaign spearheaded by the UK trade body, the Investment Association (IA). It is backed by a wide range of UK financial services firms, including St. James's Place.

Research for the campaign, carried out by the Financial Conduct Authority in association with Opinium, reveals around seven million adults in the UK hold at least £10,000 in cash savings¹. Yet nearly half (44%) of those who save have no investments.

Ten million people say they want to learn more about investments, the campaign points out, while 37% of savers would be more likely to invest after a conversation with someone they know. Yet 69% rarely or never talk about investing.

So, what is deterring people from investing in the stock market, given the potential financial benefits of investing over the long term?

Crucially, the Invest for the Future campaign focuses on the barriers people feel when it comes to investing. These barriers include fear of losing money, confusion over how investing works, and a sense investing is “for other people”.

It will look to frame investing as the ‘next step’ from saving – as an evolution. It will seek to make the benefits of investing clearer by breaking long-term goals (retirement, housing, financial security) into manageable steps. In this way, it will help people to build confidence over time, which in turn could lead to a cultural shift in attitudes towards investing.

Many people want to invest but struggle to take that first step. A recent report from St. James's Place² and Ipsos, based on a survey of nearly 6,000 people, explored why. It found using behaviour-led interventions in the form of effective messaging could help create a new generation of investors. It could also boost the amount invested by more than £2 billion a year.

Key findings included:

• Clear, behaviour-led messages help people feel more confident about investing – especially younger people.
• Using clear examples to demonstrate what small, regular investments can become over time was the most effective way to shift behaviour.
• Normalising investing shifts behaviour. Messages that show investing as something people like you already do significantly increase investment intention.
• Targeted messages can help close investment gaps.

These findings support the retail investment campaign and underline the importance of presenting investing as a mainstream, everyday behaviour.

By supporting this campaign, St. James's Place hopes to help shape informed debate, raise investment confidence, and play an active role in leading the conversation on the future of wealth management.

Olivia Booth-Smith, Head of Public Affairs, Public Policy at St. James's Place welcomes the campaign’s focus on having everyday conversations about investing.

She says: "Our recent behavioural report shows clearly that when investing feels socially normal, personally relevant, and connected with people's future selves, they are more willing to invest."

The multi-year Invest for the Future campaign will feature a character Savvy the Squirrel, inspired by the idea of ‘squirrelling money away’. The figurehead is intended to represent someone who has already taken the first step into investing.

Make talking about investing normal

As part of the nationwide campaign, Savvy the Squirrel will be heading out into communities across the UK.

The campaign launched in Manchester on 23 April. A fleet of taxis have been transformed into so-called ‘Savvy Cabs’. Passengers are offered free journeys in return for taking part in informal conversations about money and investing.

By making investing a more visible and normal topic of conversation, the campaign seeks to address the barrier that 74% of savers feel investing is a big step to take.

Sources