The Covid-19 pandemic has prompted just over half of advised UK adults to move into the sustainable investing space, according to a report by Prudential.
While the trend is common across generations, millennials led the way, with 60% taking up sustainable investing, followed by 44% of generation X and 35% of the baby boom generation.
Catriona McInally, investment expert at Prudential UK, said: “With £5.5 trillion (€6.4 trillion) in personal wealth due to be passed to the next generation by 2047, the role intergenerational planning advice played, prior to the pandemic, was already a significant one. Yet the crisis has reframed financial priorities. Not just for those later in life with IHT [inheritance tax] liabilities, but for all generations.”
Research for the report was carried out by Opinium, which surveyed 1,000 advised families across the UK.
The study looked at intergenerational planning and wealth transfer between advised families amid the financial volatility and insecurity of the pandemic. It found that over 60% now care more about the environment and the planet than they did pre-pandemic.
Meanwhile, more than a quarter (26%) of respondents admitted they are more concerned than they’ve ever been. One in five (21%) said they are more worried now that they have children/grandchildren.
“Once perhaps viewed as a fad, sustainable investing is becoming normalised, making it a fundamental building block within intergenerational financial planning. It also enables clients to leave their children more than just a financial legacy in terms of planet, environment, and society,” McInally added.
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