New research from peer-to-peer real estate investment platform, easyMoney, reveals that 69% of investors are confident of receiving good returns in 2024, with ISAs proving to be the most popular form of investment.
easyMoney has surveyed 1,305 UK investors to gauge their sentiment towards the investment market for 2024, how confident they are in receiving good returns, and how the national economic picture might impact their plans to either increase or downsize their portfolios as the year progresses.
The research shows that 69% of investors expressed a degree of confidence – ranging from slightly to very confident – that their portfolio would see a return in 2024. Just 31% expressed having no confidence whatsoever.
When asked what factors were most concerning in relation to the performance of their portfolio, 33% of investors cited the UK’s wider economic picture; 25% pointed to the nation’s current political landscape; and 19% said they’re most concerned about the investment impact of the current cost of living crisis.
Meanwhile, just 5% reported concerns about the performance of the UK property market.
When asked about the contents of the investment portfolios, it’s revealed that the most commonly held assets are ISAs.
Stocks and shares were the second most popular investment vehicle, followed by bonds.
Thanks to widespread investor confidence in the returns they’ll generate this year, very few are planning to downsize their portfolios any time soon.
In fact, just 12% of investors have any intention of reducing their portfolio while 61% plan to keep it exactly how it is and 28% plan to actively increase the scale of their investments.
When asked which assets they are going to consider investing in when growing their portfolio, 41% point once again to ISAs.
Given the immense popularity of ISAs, it’s surprising to learn that only 32% of investors report to have maximised their tax-free ISA allowance, leaving 68% who still have room to play with ahead of the April deadline.
Among those who have already maxed out their personal allowance, the majority have done so with Cash ISAs (63%), followed by Stocks and Shares ISAs (32%), while Lifetime ISAs (4%) and Innovative Finance ISAs (1%) have been less prevalent.
Jason Ferrando, CEO of easyMoney said, “It’s great to see so many investors with a positive outlook for the year ahead, and the popularity of ISAs is no surprise given the benefits they come with, not least the personal tax-free allowance of £20,000.
However, it’s clear that many investors are yet to diversify their ISA portfolio, with the core products of Cash and Stocks and Shares ISAs proving the most popular.
This is somewhat surprising, given that the Government recently announced new rules that will extend the remit of IFISAs, supercharging their potential for investors, not to mention the fact that such products already offer considerably higher returns.”
Leave a Comment