E*Trade Study Reveals Dads and Moms Are Significantly More Likely to Embrace New Tech & Tools to Manage Finances

Business Wire 13-Jun-2019 4:05 PM

Parents outpace the general population in wanting to leverage mobile, voice, social, and other new technologies in managing their investments

E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) today announced results from the most recent wave of StreetWise, the E*TRADE quarterly tracking study of experienced investors. Results reveal parents over-index in their desire to use mobile and emerging technologies to help manage their portfolios:

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(Graphic: Business Wire)

• Parents are more inclined to demand sophisticated mobile capabilities: 74% of parents, compared to 59% of the general population, say their brokerage's mobile app should deliver functionality that rivals the web experience.
• They're more inclined to use wearables: 60% of parents are interested in wearable technologies to monitor their portfolio, compared to 39% of the general population.
• More than half would use a voice assistant or chatbot: 55% of parents would use a voice assistant, and 54% would use a chatbot to help manage their portfolio, compared to 36% and 33% of the general population, respectively.
• Apps have had a positive impact on their investing habits: Almost three out of four parents (71%) say investing apps have positively affected their investment experience, compared to 53% of the general population.
• Parents are more inclined to use social media to learn about investing: Parents are more likely to use Facebook (35%), YouTube (29%), and Instagram (28%) to learn about the market and investing, compared to 24%, 19%, and 17% of the general population, respectively.

"Parents are constantly on the go—not only do they have to balance their professional and personal lives, they also need to manage their family's financial well-being," said Ed Andersen, Vice President of Mobile and Advanced Technology at E*TRADE Financial. "The data suggest they crave a holistic mobile experience, enabling them to do everything from monitoring the markets and analyzing their portfolio to rebalancing their holdings and exploring new investment ideas. What's interesting is that this bucks the conventional wisdom that mobile should be simple and focused. While these are certainly important attributes for the parent population, it's critical to strike the right balance between being sleek and streamlined and providing everything this population needs."

Mr. Andersen also offered the following insights on mobile investing trends:

• A leading mobile experience is more than just an app. As smartphone screens grow larger, the difference between a tablet and a smartphone is becoming inconsequential. The data suggest that financial services providers will need to replicate the full web experience on mobile, whether through more robust app functionality or responsively designed and quick-loading sites.
• Voice assistants are not a fad. Voice-enabled commands can serve an important role for parents on the go who may literally have their hands full. Without ever lifting a finger, a parent can access and view their account, or even look at the movement of a specific security.
• Social media has created consumer expectations of micro-communications wherein snackable content reigns. As more parents turn to social channels for investing information, financial services companies must create social content that is appealing for their entire client base. Social sites can serve real needs beyond simply catching up with friends and liking photos. Clearly parents want to find actionable and helpful investing content that is easy to digest while on the go.

E*TRADE aims to enhance the financial independence of traders and investors through a powerful digital offering and professional guidance. To learn more about E*TRADE's trading and investing platforms and tools, visit etrade.com.

For useful trading and investing insights from E*TRADE, follow the company on Twitter, @ETRADE.

About the Survey

This wave of the survey was conducted from April 1 to April 11 of 2019 among an online US sample of 917 self-directed active investors (and includes a sample of 291 parents) who manage at least $10,000 in an online brokerage account. The survey has a margin of error of ±3.20 percent at the 95 percent confidence level. It was fielded and administered by Research Now. The panel is broken into thirds of active (trade more than once a week), swing (trade less than once a week but more than once a month), and passive (trade less than once a month). The panel is 60% male and 40% female, with an even distribution across online brokerages, geographic regions, and age bands.

About E*TRADE Financial and Important Notices

E*TRADE Financial and its subsidiaries provide financial services including brokerage and banking products and services to retail customers. Securities products and services are offered by E*TRADE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC). Commodity futures and options on futures products and services are offered by E*TRADE Futures LLC (Member NFA). Managed Account Solutions are offered through E*TRADE Capital Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Bank products and services are offered by E*TRADE Bank, and RIA custody solutions are offered by E*TRADE Savings Bank, both of which are national federal savings banks (Members FDIC). More information is available at www.etrade.com.

The information provided herein is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice.

E*TRADE Financial, E*TRADE, and the E*TRADE logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of E*TRADE Financial Corporation. ETFC-G

© 2019 E*TRADE Financial Corporation. All rights reserved.

E*TRADE Financial Corporation and Research Now are separate companies that are not affiliated. E*TRADE Financial Corporation engages Research Now to program, field, and tabulate the study. Research Now Group, Inc. provides digital research data and has locations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. For more information, please go to www.researchnow.com.

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