Responding to a report from the FCA which highlights the impulsivity of younger investors, data from the Boring Money website confirms that younger investors looking to open a stocks and shares ISA also move quicker than older investors.

The FCA found that 66% of younger investors (under 40) take less than 24 hours to make an investment decision.

Behaviours on the Boring Money website confirm that under 40s are also faster to make decisions when it comes to stocks & shares ISAs.

Boring Money CEO Holly Mackay comments, “If we look at how long it takes someone to go from researching a provider on our tables, to clicking through to the provider’s website to open an account, we can see that the under 40s move a lot faster than older investors. Our experience maps to the FCA data and a random data set showed that 67% of those under 40 move from research to provider website in less than 24 hours”.

The data show that:

• 45% of those over 40 move from research and comparison to go to the provider’s website to open an account in one day or less.

• 45% of those over 40 take more than one month to move from research to action.

• 67% of those under 40 do this in one day or less. And just 10% take more than one month.

Mackay observes, “These decisions are typically not impulse buys but we can observe a much shorter decision window with younger investors. I suspect this is partially driven by greater confidence in making decisions on a mobile, on the move, rather than logging on to a desktop at home, but also the average balances will typically be lower so there will be a sense that the consequences of getting it wrong are less painful.”