Millennials are changing the way the world works and advisors have to adapt
Millennials are the hot topic right now. With their shifting demands and expectations, they’re changing the way the world works, and financial firms are trying to work out what exactly they want. In a recent survey, TD asked millennials about their attitudes towards investing in the current low-interest rate, high-volatility market. The results: 36% of millennials don’t know if it’s the right time to invest and 22 % say it’s definitely not the time. A little more than a third (37%) say they do not invest at all.
As part of its 2016 Scholarship Program (BSP), Bridgehouse asked students to take part in an investor personality quiz and submit an essay explaining what they learned about their investment personalities. The results revealed that 62.5 per cent of young Canadians are risk-takers and 51 per cent are rational risk-takers. Only 9 per cent self-identified as risk averse.
Katherine Tang, 19, was one of the ten scholarship winners (out of 800 contestants) and was awarded a $2,000 contribution towards her university tuition costs.
“I found out that I’m a thrill seeking strategist, which I think makes me sound much cooler than I am,” Tang says. “For people like me, we should be thrill seeking risk strategists because we have such a long-term investment horizon. If we’re investing in mutual funds we should take on more of an aggressive fund type because of the advantages of having a long time to see our money grow.”
Tang currently has a financial advisor, whom her parents connected her with. She does suggest, however, that other people of her age may either be reluctant to enlist an advisor or not know where to find one. “With so much free information floating around on the Internet it’s hard for some people to see the added value of a financial advisor,” says Tang, who is currently in her second year of university. “I think that’s one of the main reasons that people today may not have an advisor.”
But if Tang was in the market for a new advisor, what attributes would she be looking for? “Definitely someone who is able to communicate with me over the Internet and be readily available to reply to my emails,” she says. “People don’t want to have to follow up with advisors especially when investing in the stock market, which can be confusing. Millennials want fast responses, whether through email, text or via meetings over Skype or Google Hangout – that’s really important.”
As part of its 2016 Scholarship Program (BSP), Bridgehouse asked students to take part in an investor personality quiz and submit an essay explaining what they learned about their investment personalities. The results revealed that 62.5 per cent of young Canadians are risk-takers and 51 per cent are rational risk-takers. Only 9 per cent self-identified as risk averse.
Katherine Tang, 19, was one of the ten scholarship winners (out of 800 contestants) and was awarded a $2,000 contribution towards her university tuition costs.
“I found out that I’m a thrill seeking strategist, which I think makes me sound much cooler than I am,” Tang says. “For people like me, we should be thrill seeking risk strategists because we have such a long-term investment horizon. If we’re investing in mutual funds we should take on more of an aggressive fund type because of the advantages of having a long time to see our money grow.”
Tang currently has a financial advisor, whom her parents connected her with. She does suggest, however, that other people of her age may either be reluctant to enlist an advisor or not know where to find one. “With so much free information floating around on the Internet it’s hard for some people to see the added value of a financial advisor,” says Tang, who is currently in her second year of university. “I think that’s one of the main reasons that people today may not have an advisor.”
But if Tang was in the market for a new advisor, what attributes would she be looking for? “Definitely someone who is able to communicate with me over the Internet and be readily available to reply to my emails,” she says. “People don’t want to have to follow up with advisors especially when investing in the stock market, which can be confusing. Millennials want fast responses, whether through email, text or via meetings over Skype or Google Hangout – that’s really important.”
