It is still mostly men who entrust their money to the financial markets (57%). aged between 25 and 54 years and with over 10 years of experience, however, today 30.8% of those who invest through online platforms are under 35 and 8.6% are under 25. Furthermore, 42.7% are women. It is the identikit that emerges fromBG SAXO Digital Finance Observatorythe broker born from the joint venture between Saxo Bank and Banca Generali.
The survey asked over 2,800 respondents in Northern Italy (where also according to Consob the majority of investors are concentrated) regarding their investment habits and motivations, the tools they use, the markets they prefer, the criteria with which they choose to rely on a broker
It turned out that 70.2% have confidence in the Italian market and that 61% invest to increase their assets, preferring shares, bonds and cryptocurrencies. Furthermore, over 4 out of 10 interviewees claim to have invested more in 2024 than in the previous year and admit that they are looking for a broker who offers them the opportunity to benefit from educational and inspirational content to improve their investment skills.
4 out of 10 investors are women: 30.8% are under 35 years old
Online platforms have democratized access to financial instruments: second Consob women who invest in finance in Italy are 22%, while in the BG SAXO Observatory they represent almost half (42.7%). The average Italian investor has between 25 and 54 yearsbut, as we read in the Observatory by analyzing the other age groups, within the 30.8% of under 35s, an 8.6% made up of under 25s appears: it is the signal that the world of investments is opening up more and more to young people. Furthermore, the survey shows that in Italy mainly those with experience invest: 27.5% have followed the stock market for more than 10 years, 20% for over 6 years and 27.1% for between 3-5 years.
Why you invest
Among the 11 reasons for investing, the main one is that of increase your assets (61%), followed by protecting yourself from inflation (41.1%), benefiting from a financial cushion in case of unexpected circumstances (36.5%), putting money aside for children (22%). Finally, 44.7% of those interviewed by BG SAXO declare that they invested more in 2024 than in the previous year, while for 37.6% their investments were the same as those in 2023. Almost a fifth however (17% ) claims to have invested less than the previous year.
Investors’ favorite instruments and markets
The most used instrument for investing in the financial markets is that of actions (46.6%) followed by bonds (39.4%), mutual funds (36%) e cryptocurrencies (30.7%). The ETF market is also growing (17.7%), especially among young people. But managed portfolios, futures, options, Forex and CFDs are also used instruments. In geographical terms, investors are led to place trust in the closest markets: 70.2% of respondents declare they invest in Italy while 64.2% in Europe; followed by the United States and Canada (45.2%). The trend towards “domesticity” is confirmed by 35.7% of respondents who claim to consider the Italian market as the most important for their investments.
The regions where there are more investors
The survey was conducted on investors resident in the regions of Northern Italy: Emilia-Romagna, Liguria, Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino-Alto Adige, Valle d’Aosta and Veneto. Among these, Lombardy clearly emerges as the region with the highest concentration of investors, representing 41.1% of the total, followed by Piedmont (17.3%) and Emilia-Romagna (16%). Smaller shares are recorded in Veneto (14.6%), while Liguria (4.8%), Trentino-Alto Adige (2.4%) and Valle d’Aosta (0.5%) close the ranking with significantly higher percentages. lower.
The analysis focused on northern regions as Northern Italy represents the most relevant area in the country for financial investment activity, with around 50% of investors concentrated in these regions, compared to 17% in the central regions and 33% in the south and islands.
The criteria for choosing the broker
When asked to choose a broker for their financial operations, investors prefer to rely on those who offer them the opportunity to benefit from educational and inspirational content to improve their investment capabilities: this parameter, according to those interviewed in the survey, is in fact the one that obtains the highest score (8.2/13). Next are those who take care of tax returns for their customers and those who offer the possibility of interfacing with human operators (7.9/13). Followed, with 7 points out of 13, are brokers who offer advanced tools and features on the platform, the possibility of using an app, and high-quality digital services. As in other European countries, the figure offinancial influencerespecially among young people looking for news and information on the world of finance; the majority of investors, however, still prefer to obtain information through classic forms: more than 80%, in fact, say they don’t even follow an influencer.