ii’s Friends and Family one year since launch

A younger, predominantly female audience is harnessing ii’s Friends and Family initiative  – but with a fifth of new customers over 55, a multi-generational approach is also emerging.

• A younger, predominantly female audience is harnessing ii’s Friends and Family offer one year since launch
• But with a fifth of new customers over 55, multi-generational conversations are also emerging 

Christmas is fast approaching, and after a tough year for many, money and personal finances may well be an even greater topic of conversation.

‘Friends and Family’ is a referral programme at interactive investor where, for an extra £5 a month, existing customers on ii’s core ‘Investor’ price plan can gift up to five people a free subscription to ii. The programme is free for customers on ii’s premium price plan, Super Investor. 

• Learn about: Stocks & Shares ISAs | ISA Investment Ideas | Friends & Family

The scheme means ii customers can help those they care about invest for the long term, by funding their subscription fee. Arguably, it also creates an excuse for open and honest conversations between families about money, across the generations.  

Friends and Family offer prompts multi-generational conversations and more female engagement on investing 

One year since launch, ii has seen younger, and predominantly female, investors harnessing this offer. While Friends and Family was not specifically created to attract more women to investing, results have nonetheless revealed an interesting trend that points in that direction. It is also thought-provoking that this continues to resonate with female investors without an agenda or targeted advertising.

Around a third of interactive investor’s 400,000 customers are female. 

According to a recent study by Finder1, only 28% of UK women invest compared to 46% of UK males. When asked by Finder where women who want to invest get their knowledge from, 37% said they do not know where to start and 17% said they would turn to friends and family for investing information. 

86% of those referring their friends and family are male. However, 65% of those referred are women.

ii has been advocating for more female engagement on investment, having also partnered with peer-to-peer learning organisation Money Movers earlier this year.

Intergenerational money conversations

But it’s not just the young ons. Friends and Family is also clearly driving healthy conversations about money between older and younger generations. 

ii customers starting their investment journey through Friends and Family tend to be young, with almost half (47%) of customers referred under 35. More specifically, 29% were aged 18-24 and 18% aged between 25-34. A further 16% of people who opened an account were between 35-44 years old, and 16% were aged between 45-54. 

• Friends & Family customer stories

However, it’s important to point out that one-fifth (22%) of those referred are over 55; therefore an encouraging sign of multi-generational conversations taking place.

Victoria Scholar, Head of Investment, interactive investor, says: “Friends and Family creates an excuse for people to talk to each other about their finances, their plans, and their aspirations with those they care about. From those discussions we’ve seen more people engaging with ii, with encouraging early signs of a younger audience getting involved in investing. It’s also noteworthy that a fifth of customers referred this year to date have been over 55, as people start to focus more and more on the need to play ‘catch up’ with their savings, and suggesting a multi-generational appeal. 

“Heading into the festive season, we may see even more of these conversations taking place as families gather together. Gifting an investment subscription may be an option some families are considering as part of their presents to their loved ones this year.­­ We offer a range of educational tools and insights, a wide range of beginner content, and the same breadth of investment choice. There’s no better way to get started on your investment journey.”

Key features of Friends and Family

• Just £5 allows customers to cover the monthly fee of up to five people, who can each join ii with no monthly fee (customers in the Super Investor price plan get this for free).
• Any introduced customers are not charged a monthly ii platform fee. 
• Regular investing is free (funds, investment trusts, ETFs and popular UK shares); other trades are charged at ii’s standard rates - trading credits are not available 
• They can invest up to £30,000 each. Above this amount they will move on to the standard Investor Plan (£9.99 per month).
• Simple linking process
• Friend and family accounts are separate and private.
• Engaging content to help Friends and Family get started.
• They get access to ii’s full range of investments from the whole of market, or can choose from select lists of independently rated funds from ii’s Super 60, ACE 40, model portfolios and the Quick Start range for beginner investors.

Friends and Family: most held (by value) by sponsors and sponsees (as at November 2022)