20% of consumers who own any savings or investment products in the UK are considered wealthy, that is they have a minimum of £75,000 held in investment or saving products. Most of the Wealthy (80%) have saving and investment wealth of £100,000 or more. The Wealthy are characterised as being:
- More likely to be male rather than female
- Individuals of greater affluence, as measured by income
- Individuals from the higher social grades
- Older than the Not Wealthy, although a comparatively large percentage of the wealthiest fall into the 35-44 age group.
- More likely to live in London compared with the Not Wealthy.
When investing and saving money, the Wealthy are characterised by being more likely than the Not Wealthy to:
- Establish clear motives for saving/investing (whatever they may be)
- Have the financial comfort to be able to save/invest regularly – i.e. to have a certain level of household income.
- Be more likely to be saving and investing over the longer-term (e.g. retirement/old age) and medium-term.
- Be more confident they can reach their saving and investing goals.
- Be looking for capital gains over the medium to long-term rather than short-term income.
