Investing for the Future: Investors’ Top Priorities and Portfolio Preferences

• Only 51% of investors confidently believe that they will have enough savings to last through retirement.
• About four in ten investors have ETFs in their portfolios. 72% of them believe that ETFs have improved the overall performance of their portfolio.
• More than half of investors, regardless of ETF ownership, say that ETFs are an investor-friendly investment product (58%) and are better diversified than other investment products (54%).

What Are Investors Top Financial Goals — And Do They Think They’ll Achieve Them?

In our study, a few specific investor goals rise to the top of the list:

• Having enough savings to last through retirement
• Having money for future healthcare needs
• Maintaining current lifestyle in retirement

‘Having enough savings to last through retirement’ was more likely to be a top goal in the US than in EMEA and APAC. ‘Having money for future healthcare needs’ was less likely to be a top goal in EMEA than in the US and APAC.

It’s important to note that only 51% of investors confidently believe that they will have enough savings to last through retirement. Within the outlined list of financial goals (Figure 1), global investors’ ‘confidence in achieving’ levels never reached above a 70%.

Figure 1: Are Investors Confident They Will Achieve Their Top Financial Goals?
A Global and Regional Comparison

Source: State Street Global Advisors, as of December 12, 2022.

Click to view the full list.

The two older generations surveyed — Gen X and Baby Boomers — were more likely to rank ‘Having enough savings to last through retirement years’ as a top goal. Baby Boomers were most likely to rank ‘Having money for future healthcare needs’ as a top goal.

Millennials’ top goals were more likely to span a wider range of choices than Gen X and Baby Boomers.

Figure 2: Are Investors Confident They Will Achieve Their Top Financial Goals?
A Generational Comparison

Source: State Street Global Advisors, as of December 12, 2022.

Click to view the full list.

What Do the Portfolios of Today’s Investors Look Like?

Only 40% of investors around the globe have ETFs in their investment portfolios. Instead, investors tend to lean more toward stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and cash.

Taking a more granular look, ETFs are more popular among EMEA’s Gen X population in comparison to the other two regions. And ETFs are more popular among US Baby Boomers versus Baby Boomers in the other two regions.

ETF Owners Have Positive Perceptions About ETFs

For investors who do own ETFs, nearly three-quarters think that these core building blocks have improved the overall performance of their portfolio — and more than two-thirds say that ETFs have made them better investors.

There’s More Room for ETF Growth and Adoption

Despite the explosive growth of the ETF industry over the last three decades, the global ETF industry still has a long runway for adoption, as just 40% of investors around the world say they own an ETF in their portfolio. This is considerably lower than investors’ ownership of stocks (77%), mutual funds (56%), and bonds (49%).

Now, with $8.8 trillion in global assets under management,¹ ETFs provide a highly liquid, cost-effective, and transparent way to invest in the market. And with more than 9,500 ETFs available globally,² investors can gain exposure to a wide variety of market segments to achieve their financial goals with more confidence.

To learn more about ETFs and the benefits they offer investors, click here.

More Key Findings from This Survey

• The 2023 ETF Impact Survey
• Investor Sentiment in Flux: Financial Hope vs. Economic Worry
• Coping with Uncertainty: Investors Ride the Waves of Market Stress

About the Survey

State Street Global Advisors, in partnership with Prodege and A2B, conducted a study surveying more than 1,000 individual investors. Read more about the details.