Who are the Italian investors? How old are they? And how did they decide to invest their money? He answers these and other questions a study carried out by Assogestioni which outlines the profile of the "Underwriters of Italian mutual funds" in 2019. The data dates back to the pre-Covid period, but they are useful for understanding how Italian investments have evolved over the years.
ITALIAN INVESTORS: HOW MANY THEY ARE
in 2019 over 7 million Italians, about 12% of the total population, has invested in Italian mutual funds. In the period 2002-2005 there were about 9 million subscribers (17% of the population), but in the following years, thanks to the negative trend in funding, their number began to decrease and the incidence on the total Italian population reached the lowest level in 2012, when it fell to 9%.
A slow recovery has begun since 2013, to which it has contributed in recent years "the success of PIR compliant funds which 810 savers have joined (930 including foreign law funds)”, underlines Assogestioni.
It is also interesting to note how the data contained in the report suggest that, at least as regards investments, a gradual rebalancing between genders is underway in Italy: last year, women accounted for 47% of subscribers of Italian mutual funds. In 2002, they were 42%.
ITALIAN INVESTORS: HOW OLD THEY ARE AND WHERE THEY ARE
Italians who invest in mutual funds are getting older. In fact, the study shows a significant increase in the average age of those who invest: in 2019 we reached 60 years.
Speaking by age group, the share of subscribers between 26 and 35 years fell from 15% in 2002 to 6% in 2019, while over the same period that of investors over the 75 years it rose from 9% to 20%. “Stable at 40% over the entire period, the share of subscribers in the middle age brackets (46-65)”, reports Assogestioni.
As for the geographical distribution, the vast majority of Italian investors (65%) reside in the North, 18% in Central Italy and the remaining 17% in the South and Islands. From a regional point of view, these data translate into a podium made up of Emilia-Romagna (19,5%), Lombardy (17,4%) and Liguria (16,6%), with increasingly lower values as move south.
ITALIAN INVESTORS: HOW MUCH AND WHAT THEY INVEST
30 thousand euros: this is the average amount allocated to investments in mutual funds, despite the median equity is equal to 13.386 euros and half of the subscribers invest even less than this amount. A trend, Assogestioni explains, due to the high “concentration in the highest quantiles”. Translated into simple terms, it means that wealth is concentrated in the hands of 10% of investors, who hold almost half of the assets and invest more than 70 euros.
Turning instead to the portfolio composition, Italian investors prefer to avoid riskier investments: in 2019 only 7% of subscribers bet on shares and only 0,5% on liquidity funds.
On the other hand, flexible funds are popular, chosen by 36% of investors, while bond funds have recorded a gradual contraction, falling to 24% from the peaks of 40% previously recorded. Assogestioni also underlines that "the increase recorded in recent years in subscribers who invest in balanced funds is also due to thePIR effect”, which in 2019 had 810 thousand investors.
Finally, as regards theand subscription methods, 65% of subscribers prefer the single payment (Pic); even if the number of people who have opted exclusively for the accumulation plans (PAC) has increased over the years (reaching 21% in 2019). Among the channels to win hands down is the banking one, chosen by 95% of subscribers.
