The target return? It ranges between 3 and 5 per cent
New investors have more ambitious performance expectations than adults
Key points
Worry, anxiety, guilt, but also pressure to perform. These are the emotions that crop up most frequently when young people are asked about their relationship with money. This has been highlighted by the digital investment platform Moneyfarm in a new survey carried out in collaboration with Research Dogma, which *Il Sole 24 Ore* is able to preview.
The figures
According to the survey, young people aged between 18 and 34 are, in fact, the group that, more than any other, associates money with a feeling of anxiety (they experience this feeling in 25 per cent of cases, compared with an average of 19 per cent), partly due to high levels of risk aversion, and they are the ones who most frequently feel guilty about leaving money sitting in their current account (33 per cent).
At the same time, however, young people also have more ambitious expectations regarding the returns they expect from their investments: a relative majority, amounting to 36 per cent, are aiming for returns of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent , whilst 17 per cent say they are content simply to keep pace with inflation and a further 11 per cent expect to earn more than 5 per cent a year. These figures contrast with the greater inclination towards capital preservation shown by the over-55s, 42 per cent of whom consider the preservation of capital and purchasing power to be essential.
A contradictory picture
The resulting picture therefore appears highly contradictory, with young people caught in a sort of ‘I’d like to, but I can’t’ situation, the end result of which is to postpone long-term decisions. This same caution is also reflected in the fundamental decisions concerning supplementary pensions: according to the Covip 2025 Report, there are 10.4 million members of pension funds, representing less than 40 per cent of the workforce.
“This means,” explains Andrea Rocchetti, global head of Wealth at Moneyfarm, “that more than six in ten workers are not building a supplementary pension, not only because of anxiety or fear about investing, but also due to a lack of awareness of the tax and social security benefits, a tendency to put off making long-term decisions, limited financial knowledge or a general mistrust of investment instruments.’
