Concerns over cost of education sees increase in junior investments
In the last three years there has been a 21% increase in the number of investors who are investing on behalf of children, according to the latest Halifax Share Dealing Market Tracker.
The survey of active retail investors found the percentage of these investors who are using a Junior Stocks & Shares ISA has increased from 12.5% to 20.7%, and the percentage of those investing through a Junior Cash ISA has increased from 6.3% to 17.2%.
In 2012 more than half (56%) of those investing on behalf of a child said the purpose was for ‘general savings’, but since then increasing importance has been attached to saving for a child’s education (university/college) and 45% now say this is the primary purpose – the same level as those investing to provide general savings.
Damian Stansfield, managing director of Halifax Share Dealing, says: "Providing a good start in life for your children is a natural desire for any parent. Investors have always sought to provide their children or grandchildren with a savings pot to support and supplement their finances before they start earning money.
“While junior products have been around for a number of years, since September 2012, when the annual cap on undergraduate courses was increased to £9,000 per year, we’ve seen a marked increase in people making investments in junior ISA products on behalf of children specifically in order to meet their future educational needs.”
Financial services see increase in investors as results season hits full swing
With a number of financial institutions having already announced full year results, the percentage of investors holding stocks in financial services has increased from 55.3% in January to 59.6% in February.
On a year on year basis the number of investors holding stocks in this sector is down 9.4%. On an annual basis the biggest fallers in terms of investors holding stocks are energy & mining, and consumer & retail products. In fact, the only sector to show a year on year increase in terms of the number of investors holding stocks is computers, information technology & internet (up 3.9%).
Despite this, looking ahead at the next six months and 41.4% of investors say they are looking to invest in energy & mining stocks and 40.5% are looking to invest in financial services, compared to 29% who are looking to invest in computers, IT & internet.
Investors looking to maintain recent gains
In December, almost three quarters of investors believed the value of the their portfolios had increased compared to six months prior, however, in January this had slipped back to 56%, with almost a third (31%) saying they thought it was now about the same as it was half a year ago.
At the same time the early investor optimism over the one-year outlook for the FTSE 100 has also come down, with the number of investors who expect it to be higher this time next year dropping from 82% in January to 78% in February.