Why don't people invest?

Puddylove

ManofLeisure wrote: »

Perhaps they leave it to their husbands/partners with the realisation that if it all goes wrong - they have someone to blame

I suppose in a world where my half of a council tax rebate was given to my then boyfriend only because he had a penis, your views may point to a wider issue.

redux

Puddylove wrote: »

I suppose in a world where my half of a council tax rebate was given to my then boyfriend only because he had a penis, your views may point to a wider issue.

Did he have to produce it in order to validate the claim?

veryintrigued

Take a step back and first ask why the majority of people don't/can't save let alone invest.

Audaxer

Uxb wrote: »

If you are near retirement you need to reduce you risk profile substantially lest any sustain fall in the market is not reversed before you run out of money.

I think in retirement you can still have a fairly balanced portfolio of say 60/40 equities to bonds as long as you keep a decent cash buffer as well to draw income from in the event of equity crashes.

jimjames

Uxb wrote: »

Maybe they remember the experience of Japan.
Their index peaked at around 38900 in 1989. A figure it never reached again.
Some 20 years later in 2009 it was at 7054!
It is now at 22300.

I very much doubt many people would use the example of Japan as a reason to not invest. If they did then they should realise that it shows the reason for a balanced worldwide portfolio not that you shouldn't invest at all.

Thrugelmir

capital0ne wrote: »

it's so easy as well with the wealtho of info on-line

Can I ask when you first started investing and whether you've traded shares in more voltile times. As there's been a bull market for 9 years. Complancy being an investors worst enemy.

elephantrosie

the engineers i know of are all into investments. hmm.... i really need to get to know more engineers!

Although, i have noticed that most females do not invest.

Cactus_Jack

I think people just associate it with a risk of losing everything - the shares going to zero. I always wanted to get involved but knew nothing. It took me many hours of research to understand things to some degree. I was quite lucky as a podcast I listen to dedicated an episode to index investing. I didn't even know it existed. And they also broke down how the markets have as a whole gone up over the last 100 years or so (US).

It should be taught in schools.

darkidoe

I think it's very much education about the stock market, financial systems and then building the suitable mentality and attitudes towards risk management. And then having a sense of adventure to be optimistic and bet on the future!

BananaRepublic

Most people have the view that equities are inherently risky, and that investing in them is akin to betting on horses or buying a lottery ticket. They don't take the time to educate themselves. Many start investing when everyone is saying to invest because you can't lose. That's usually when the markets are nearing the end of a bull run, so when it crashes, the newcomers pull out and crystallise their losses. So they never again invest in equities, because it is of course a way to lose money. Once bitten, twice shy.

p00hsticks wrote: »

Most of these people will be investing via their pensions schemes - they just may not realise it.

Yes. What we need - and this may already exist - is lessons at school in financial management so that children learn the basics. Thus they would learn about compound interest, bonds and guilts, equities, stock markets, private and public companies, bull runs and bear markets and so on. But it would be from a practical viewpoint, not academic. So there would be mention of Warren Buffett, of the great crash of 2008, and the Great Depression etc.