Investment Trust Survey Results – 59% of investors surveyed buy their investment trusts online

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Investors prefer post

Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity FundsNetwork and Alliance Trust favoured online platforms – but most investors prefer literature sent in the post

 
In March 2012 a panel of over 1,000 investors who have requested information on  investment trusts responded to 11 questions, covering a range of topics including how they like to buy trusts as well as which fund managers they have the most confidence in to manage their money successfully.
 
The questions covered the different aspects of buying behaviour among those investing in investment trusts and revealed the dominance of online platforms. Some 59% responded that they buy ‘online via a discount broker, fund supermarket or share dealing account’.  Some 22% reported buying ‘via a Financial Adviser’, 20% reported buying ‘via a posted application form sent to the fund manager’ and 17% reported buying ‘via the fund manager’s website’. (Note: survey respondents could choose more than one option.)
 
The respondents also indicated which online platforms they used with Hargreaves Lansdown, Fidelity (Funds Network), Alliance Trust, Halifax and Barclays leading the way.
 
Perhaps surprisingly, investment trust investors are rather old fashioned when it comes to how they prefer reading promotional literature. The majority, 45% responded ‘as a brochure sent in the post’ while 30% chose ‘in a pdf’ and 26% ‘on the web page’.
 
dianomi also polled investors as to how they researched information before making an investment decision. Rather than reading annual reports or consulting with advisers, the investors surveyed relied predominantly on ‘financial websites’, ‘financial sections of national press’ and ‘investment magazines’.
 
Cabell de Marcellus, co-founder of dianomi, comments, “From the survey results, it looks like the investors buy online but prefer to read material offline. This makes sense as the discounts and convenience are both so appealing online. But if you are going to read a  twelve page report about a major investment decision, you really want to do that in a comfortable chair with a cup of tea.”
 
The survey revealed more about investment trusts including: investor ratings of the twelve major investment trust fund managers; which sectors the investors want more research on; and specific questions relating to Asian investment trusts.
 
Clcik here to download the Summary Report – April 2012 – Investment Trust Survey_dianomi
 
Notes to editors
 
Methodology: The survey was conducted in March 2012 by dianomi with 1,016 investors participating.
By Julian Barkes