Who influences young Indians investment decisions the most? It’s not financial advisor

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As much as 79.30% of young Indians began their investment journey less than a year ago during the Covid-pandemic, according to a survey conducted by Groww with over 20,000 respondents between the age of 18 to 30 years. Data also highlighted that around 18.3% of respondents started investing in the past 3 years and just 2.4% respondents have been investing for more than 3 years and consider themselves as experienced investors.

The survey also found that 40.2% of Indian youth were willing to invest more now as compared to the pre-pandemic times. Further, 26.6% of respondents feel that the pandemic had no impact on their investments decisions. Groww’s survey also highlighted that 25.8% of the respondents reduced their investments due to the reduction in their income. The rest of the respondents felt that risk appetite had decreased due to the pandemic. The survey was conducted with the aim to gain a deeper understanding of how investments are viewed by young Indian millennials and zillennials.

Speaking about the findings, Harsh Jain, COO and Co-Founder, Groww said, “We, at Groww, have witnessed a positive shift in young Indian’s minds towards investing. They are highly focussed on financial well-being for themselves and their families at a much younger age than their predecessors. Groww’s survey was conducted to understand how young India invests and what drives their investment journey. The most promising highlight for us is that India’s young investors today are focused on wealth creation. It is evident in the survey that today’s youth has a high appetite for learning and are very educated about available investment options that will help them make the right decisions in their journey towards being financially independent.”

Who influences financial decisions?

Groww’s survey revealed that friends and colleagues were the most influential when it comes to investment decisions with 30.6% considering their advice followed by the news (27.4%), and social media influencers (23.4%). Family and investment agents/advisors were the least influential with only 13.9% and 4.6%, respectively.

Investment goals

It is interesting to note that 59.8% of the respondents feel that wealth creation to secure their future expenses and retirement is the topmost priority. About 9.5% of respondents are investing to pursue their higher education while 30.7% have invested to fulfill their evolving lifestyle needs such as travel and other personal goals.

What is Financial Independence?

According to Groww’s survey, 52.9% of the respondents invest to ensure their financial security as well as their family’s, while 37.3% said that financial independence for them is having the power to decide how they would like to live their lives. About 10% of respondents said that securing enough wealth for early retirement signifies financial independence.

The survey also highlighted that the lack of financial knowledge is the main reason for low investments. The survey also showed that low-risk appetite is also one of the challenges for making the investment decision. But the bright side is that they are open to understanding the investment nuances and making a well thought through investment in future.