Humans or Computers: Future of Investing

Will the investors of the future ever sit down with a financial advisor or will they rely on their mobile device or computer for investing?  Think about the savvy kid next door who is a gamer and the computer often wins.  It’s easy to imagine a scenario when that kid believes a computer will do a better job investing than a human.

To dig into technology’s impact on investing, we asked a sample of 1,000 U.S. adults what they would do if they were given $100k to invest.

 

Millennials and Gen Z

Professional advisors still win in our survey, but computers pose great competition.  Almost half (43%) would opt for a professional advisor.  37% would manage themselves, and 20% would trust their money to a computer-based algorithm.  The number jumps to 25% when we look at tech-savvy Millennials. Gen Z is arguably the generation most trusting of what computers can do, and they are most likely to further disrupt investing.

When we also asked 16-18 year-old Gen Zers whether a human or computer would provide better investment performance over time, computers win out 57% to 43%.  For older generations, including Millennials, humans still win out—closer to 60:40, humans to computers.

It seems the marketplace may be poised for even more technology when it comes to investing.  Just over a third of the general population claims to love new money management technologies.  Millennials are feeling the most love with 54% agreeing that they love new money management technologies.

 

When it comes to money, people’s hearts are open to change.