Savers' growing interest in robo-advisors
Robo advisors
Posted by MoneyController on 11.05.2022
- 627
- 0 Follow me
Digitisation is increasing savers' familiarity with digital channels related to investments, ranging from classic online banking to (much riskier) social trading platforms. When digitalisation meets automation and artificial intelligence, a frequent theme in investment and financial advice concerns robo-advisors. However, this form of automated investment advice is increasingly finding favour with investors, as a survey from Germany shows.
Digitisation increases interest in robo-advisors
The pandemic has accelerated the familiarisation of many users with digital channels related to savings and investments. However, this acceleration is part of the broader megatrend of digitalisation. Confirmation of the growing interest among savers/investors in innovative, and in particular automated, forms of investment and financial advice comes from a survey by online wealth manager Quirion (a subsidiary of Quirin Bank) and Comdirect, which operates the Robo Cominvest. This survey was also reported by FONDS Professionell magazine. The sample consisted of 1,300 people with at least 5,000 euros to invest. Well, 59% of the respondents said that they imagine they could use a robo-advisor. If we take the group of people aged between 18 and 34, this percentage rises to 70%.
Robo-advisors: a form of advice and investment open to almost everyone
But what is driving the growing interest in robo-advisors? There are at least three factors. 1) Growing familiarity with and ease of use of digital channels related to savings and investments. 2) The urgency to invest one's savings in some way in order to fight inflation. 3) The low costs associated with the use of robo-advisors and the possibility of investing from small amounts. Alena Kretzberg, Head of Digital Banking & Comdirect at Commerzbank, also agrees with this last point. Kretzberg believes that the possibility of investing small amounts is in fact an offer aimed at all sections of the population.
Many investors' sense of security and the need for some form of advice
What about the 49% of investors who do not want to invest via robo-advisors? 25% do not trust the investment mechanism. On the other hand, 24% believe they have the skills to invest their savings themselves. However, there is one not-so-reassuring fact that emerges from the survey: the majority of respondents believe they can invest on their own, without personal advice (from a financial advisor or consultancy firm). Now, this may be partly good news for robo-advisors (as we read in FONDS Professionell). However, it should not be forgotten that investments conducted without the help of a professional almost always represent a greater risk than one might think.