How do wealthy investors use social media and mobile technology in financial decisions?
A new report from Spectrem Group takes a peek inside investors' mobile and social lives to find out how investors are using social media and other emerging technologies in their financial dealings.
The report, Using Social Media and Mobile Technology in Financial Decisions, examines the trends by three wealth groups: 1,139 mass affluent investors, with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million; 1,253 millionaire investors, with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million; and 588 ultra-high net worth investors, with a net worth between $5 million and $25 million.
The report finds some interesting age-related implications — for example, the older and wealthier the investor, the less likely they are to rely on social media.
The report finds that the strongest engagement in social media and communications technology is found among the youngest millionaires. And, the youngest millionaires comprise a small portion of total millionaires.
"[These] facts make it very tempting to believe that social media and communications technology can safely be ignored by the financial community," the report states. "Assuming that one can safely ignore these developments would be a serious mistake."
As the report points out, these current "young" millionaires will soon become middle-aged millionaires and will most likely increase their wealth over time.
In addition, new entries into the millionaire ranks will most likely be "young" and bring their technology and social media use with them, the report states.
The report is full of tidbits on how age and wealth affect social media and mobile technology use. Here are five notable findings.
1. A surprisingly large percentage of the ultra-wealthy do not use social media.
According to the study, nearly 30 percent of all the UHNW investors surveyed do not. Broken down by age, the percentage is highest among those older than 65 (37 percent).
In comparison, 26 percent of millionaires surveyed do not use social media, and 21 percent of the mass affluent segment do not.
2. Across all wealth groups, younger investors are more likely to rely more heavily on social media than on traditional channels for information.
The study finds that 31 percent of mass affluent investors ages 35 and younger rely more on social media than traditional channels for their information, compared with 4 percent of mass affluent investors over the age of 65 who do so.
It's also significantly higher than its wealthier counterparts. According to the study, 21 percent of millionaires ages 35 and younger rely more on social media than traditional channels for their information and 18 percent of UHNW investors ages 48 and younger do so.
