Why don’t people invest more in the UK?

It’s a recurring theme that new investors don’t start because they don’t know how, don’t know where and don’t know who to trust.

Maybe that’s because people just don’t talk about money in the UK, and if you do, you’re a bore.

But money is boring, especially investing for the uninitiated, all you really need to do is open an account, pick a fund and make regular investments, then do nothing until you want your dosh back.

All the exciting stuff around investing, like stock picking, trading, crypto et al is frowned upon as too risky and a bit scammy.

Which is a shame because it’s a great way for people to engage with the markets.

Everyone has to start somewhere.

Vanguard’s latest report found that 33% of Gen Z investors say they started with crypto as their first investment.

It’s only old people who are much more likely to begin investing through shares (29-36%) and investment funds (22%).

But, Gen Z are starting to invest more, with 37% of new Vanguard investors (out of 780,000 new Vanguard customers), contributing an estimated £25bn of new investment inflows.

Of those surveyed, 70% lack confidence in their investment knowledge.

58% of non-investors say they don’t know how to get started.

Which makes sense, it’s daunting starting to invest, but actually, really, really easy.

Case in point, yesterday I went to the London Spotify HQ to watch a presentation from Vanguard in partnership with Goalhanger.

There was an excellent demo of Vanguard’s new “Targeted Support” service for first time investors from Liz Waldron, Head of Product & Client Experience and James Norton, Head of Retirement & Investments.

This highlighted how just very small tweaks in making wording on apps less jargony and more friendly can help get new investors across that holy grail of financial conversion point, and make their first deposit.

The panel discussion was hosted by Katty Kay, who presents The Rest is Politics US, with Steph McGovern, from The Rest Is Money, Vanguard’s Head of UK Ben Summers, and Laura Parsonage, Vanguard’s Head of Client Brand & Insight.

Now, I am a fanboy of all things Goalhanger (and Vanguard if we’re honest, they pioneered low-cost diversified investing).

On that subject, actually, the swag bag was rubbish – definitely a missed opportunity to have given everyone a copy of The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, by the founder, John C. Bogle, an oft-recommended book in our CEO interviews.

Granted, people who come to our Good Money Guide conferences only get a branded biro. But if I ever write a book, I will give every single person I meet a copy of it.

In the UK, as opposed to the US, people are terrified of making money.

They like to save it.

Salim Ramji, the Vanguard CEO said in his introduction “Our research [based on their British Money Mindset Report] shows Britons are excellent at saving,” he said. “But when it comes to investing, fear still prevents most people in this country from getting started.”

I shall use Goalhanger podcasts as an example.

Looking at the public (not member) YouTube videos across The Rest is Politics, Entertainment and Money. The people interested in what’s going on with their money, the one thing they can control, is far lower than those interested in politics, where you can only vote every few years, or entertainment, where you are a bystander.

The Rest Is Politics – a really good listen if you want to be educated, informed and terrified.

• Will Farage’s Extreme Wealth Be His Downfall? – 157K
• Is Mamdani Breaking American Politics? – 146K
• Will Andy Burnham’s Plan for Britain Work? – 346K
• The Truth About Russian Oil, Net Zero, and North Sea Drilling – 229K
• Why Burnham’s Win Is The End for Starmer – 348K

The Rest Is Entertainment – just all-around great banter

• The Madonna Biopic Disaster – 57K
• Kylie Jenner’s ‘Pervert Glasses’ – 52K
• When Hollywood Gets The Name Wrong – 47K
• The Film No One Wants To Touch – 97K
• Tom Hanks on Woody, Sequels & The Moment That Haunts Him – 79K

Side note, they record The Rest Is Entertainment on a Monday at Spotify HQ and despite getting there early, I did not manage to get a glimpse of either Marina Hyde or Richard Osman. Booo…

The Rest Is Money – an holistic view of what’s going on in the economy

• A Nobel Prize winning view on wealth inequality – 7.2K
• The £6 trillion pot we should use to grow the economy – 17K
• Does Andy Burnham have any economic wiggle room? – 15K
• Can Burnham’s ‘business friendly socialism’ grow the economy? – 25K
• Why we need fewer civil servants – 7.6K

With your money, you can control it now, put it to work, and make more of it.

So why don’t more people listen?

I’d bet that if Martin Lewis’s website was called Money Making Expert instead of Money Saving Expert, he wouldn’t be the national treasurer he is today.