Saving and investing wisely is the trend – that shows a new study by Swiss Life Germany. Against the background of global crises, young people’s interest in sustainable investment opportunities is growing. An overview.

Times of crisis like today lead to growing interest in smart investments. The young generation in particular is increasingly asking itself how one can save and invest sensibly these days.

The new young people study by the insurance and pension group Swiss Life Germany confirms this – according to the survey results, shares and sustainable investments in particular are becoming increasingly popular among young people.

From May to June 2022, the company surveyed more than 4,000 people, representative of the population and generations, about their pension behavior and their individual attitude to financial and financial investments. She divided the respondents into generations:

It shows that the importance of the stock markets for one’s own investments has increased by five percentage points since the beginning of the corona pandemic. A total of 30 percent of those surveyed now see opportunities on the stock markets. In particular, the opinion of Generations Y and Z has led to the increase:

In addition, the share of investment funds is growing …

… as well as the stock portfolio of the survey groups:

Swiss Life CEO Jörg Arnold emphasizes that Generations Y and Z have a new awareness of opportunities and a different perspective on investments and pensions than the previous generations (baby boomers, Generation X) – this is shown by a comparison with the survey results from 2020.

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The study also shows that the respondents – regardless of their age – assess the performance of investments in times of war, inflation, the climate crisis and the pandemic similarly. The following investments are considered sensible:

Fixed-term and call money accounts or savings accounts, on the other hand, are rather unsuitable.

In general, 58 percent of all respondents stated that they had good to very good knowledge of financial and financial investments. Generation Y rated themselves particularly well at 61 percent, followed by Generation Z at 56 percent.

Personal trust still plays the most important role when it comes to money and financial issues – i.e. discussions with advisors, relatives and friends.

Social media and financial apps are also becoming more relevant, especially among young people, but the majority of those surveyed only want to take out car, travel or liability insurance on their own. Advice is required for complex issues such as old-age provision, long-term care and disability insurance.

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There is also growing interest in opportunity-oriented old-age provision that offers security. Fund-based pension insurance in particular is largely popular with Generations Y and Z.

Generation Z in particular is particularly open on this point: The willingness to invest even more than 20 percent in share-based investments with regard to private pension provision has doubled within two years. The generations also show different levels of optimism when it comes to building wealth through private provision. So look…

… optimistic about the future and believe that you can build up wealth with private provision. Nevertheless, the security of their old-age provision is more important to them than pure opportunities for returns – but with a downward trend. Respondents are already increasingly opting for fund-based instead of classic private pensions.

Sustainability is particularly important to young people when it comes to investments: 41 percent of those surveyed from Generation Y and Z can imagine investing their money sustainably in the future, the average figure is 34 percent. Young people want to consciously invest their investment in companies that are committed to environmental and climate protection and take on social responsibility.

“The awareness of sustainability is much more pronounced among young people and it is also given an important place in old-age provision,” summarizes Arnold. The following results are shown:

Looking at the study results, Arnold emphasizes that despite generation-related differences and similarities, people’s preventive behavior and needs are always individual. However, the high level of financial competence and opportunity orientation of the younger generation is a generally good sign for old-age provision in Germany.

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