What savings are young people turning to?

After cryptocurrencies, would young people show enthusiasm for the stock market? According to the Financial Markets Authority, more than 266,000 French investors carried out, in the second quarter of 2024, at least one transaction on an ETF, these continuously listed index funds which simplify investment in stocks. This figure, twice as high as in the second quarter of 2023, is largely explained by the significant influx of new investors under the age of 35 in recent quarters. A trend which has contributed to bringing down the average age of ETF investors by almost… twenty years in five years!

Are young people more daring and more open to new financial products than their elders? In any case, investment promoters seek to attract this clientele. SCPIs, products invested in real estate and intended to provide a regular return, far from the ups and downs of the stock market, also seem to attract novice investors. SCPI Iroko thus claims to have succeeded in attracting people under 30, who represent 22% of its customers.

The same motivations

The prospect of retirement, even if distant, would push these French people in their thirties to save: 62% of 18-24 year olds and 56% of 25-34 year olds consider the retirement savings plan (PER) interesting, compared to 57% of the entire population, according to a survey by the IFOP and Cecop on behalf of the Cercle de l’épargne and Amphitéa. An interest which is explained as much by the prospect of difficult old days financially as by the immediate tax advantages provided by the PER.

Presented as more sensitive to environmental and social issues, young people apparently have the same motivations as their elders when it comes to saving, namely the search for performance and… tax deductions. However, the situation is more complex than it seems. To take stock, The World is organizing, on Tuesday, November 19, with the support of Crédit Coopératif and ESCP Business School, an event entitled “Young people and money: my money, my planet, my values”, during which a barometer produced will be unveiled by Viavoice on the relationship of new generations with money.