Earlier this week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) set out its “view of consumer harm” in the investment market and a three-year strategy to address it. The main aim of the plan is to encourage more people to invest in sensible investments while avoiding scams, which sounds laudable. The FCA has set several targets with regard to meeting these goals, which could help to implement changes but must be treated with care.
According to the regulator’s analysis, 37 per cent of investors in the UK with over £10,000 of investable assets have it all sitting in cash, and a further 18 per cent have it mostly in cash. In response, the FCA has set a target of reducing by 20 per cent the number of ‘higher risk tolerance’ consumers who hold over £10,000 in cash by 2025.
£10,000 seems quite low considering that financial advisers generally do not recommend you put money in the stock market if you think you might need to use it in the next five years and suggest keeping six months' worth of your expenditure in cash. Perhaps ‘higher risk tolerance’ adjusts for these facts, but it isn’t clear.