Article by Phil
Bank of grandparents use a local IFA.
An interesting piece of research by Saga Reported by IFA Magazine (13/7/23) found that a third of all grandparents said that they had given gifts of money to their grandchildren. The numbers increase as grandparents get older. Over 60% of grandparents over 85 have given gifts.
In terms of the number #1 source of financial help, the survey found that parents were first, then Banks and third grandparents.
The average gifted by grandparents is over £2,000 but this is often across numerous grandchildren. So why do they give the monetary gifts? The top reasons are:
- Holidays
- Car
- Property purchase
- Home improvements
- Education
It seems that grandparents are happy to give the gifts, with nearly 50% saying they’d give their grandchildren money again. Increasing numbers of grandparents are being supported by their local IFA.
According to the latest FCA Financial Lives survey, the number of people getting financial advice from one source, or another rose to 4.4 million, or just over 8% of the population. That is up 2% on the year before.
In terms of those using a local IFA the number increased to 6.1% or 3.2 million people. That’s an increase of 600,000 people since 2017. Of those who had used an Independent Financial Adviser:
- 58% had a high level of trust in the advisor
- 53% were very confident about the advice they had receive, and
- 51% said that they were highly satisfied with their Independent Financial Advisers
Overall, over 15 million had received some form of financial advice about investments in the last year. With the over 55’s the most likely to be getting assistance.
Many of those will have money held in ISA’s. Launched back in 1987 as PEP’s there are now over 4,000 ISA millionaires in the UK. These are people who have made the maximum ISA investments over time (currently £20,000 a year) and now hold over £1 million in their ISA pots. (Investment rather than cash ISA’s). This number has doubled since 2019 and the average pot size is £1.4 million. With the top 50 ISA investors in the UK holding pots of over £8.5 million on average each.
It’s perhaps a good thing then that the FCA has reported that financial advisor numbers increased by just over 700 in the last 12 months to 37,318. Although the number of regulated firms dropped slightly to 5,592.
The survey also looked at the broader picture of finances across the UK. Some of the findings included:
- 5 million people hold some kind of investment product (over a third of the population)
- 21% of people hold single company shares
- 8% of people hold crypto. Up by 2% on the year before.
- 70% of people have some form of savings account, but
- Over 50% of people have no protection policies in place.
Interesting.
But news from the latest Beagle Street survey (FT Adviser 2/8/23) found that almost half of people aged between 18 and 40 had no life cover. The main reasons were:
- Cost of lockdown price increases – 38%
- Higher energy prices – 36%
- Higher rent – 26%
- Low salary increases – 26%
The main reasons for having life insurance remains the same:
- Lump sum on death to protect family – 53%
- Paying off the mortgage – 39%
- Funeral costs – 27%
All of these facts and figures are good reasons to take the time to talk to your local Independent Financial Adviser.
