E*TRADE Financial Corporation, which provides financial services including online brokerage and related banking products and services to retail investors, has just released insights on mobile investing from the most recent wave of StreetWise, E*TRADE’s quarterly tracking study of experienced investors.
The following pertains to smartphones, we’re told. Not tablets.
When managing personal finances, experienced investors most commonly use their smartphone to check stock quotes (38%) while the second most common mobile activity is monitoring their investments (32%), which stands to reason as 55% of experienced investors check in on their portfolio once a week or more.
More detailed findings include:
- When looking at age, investors under 34 are almost twice as likely as the total population to use their smartphone to watch educational videos on investing (14% vs. 8%).
- When delineating by age and gender, male investors under 34 are intensely engaged with their orders, with 61% saying they use their smartphone to check on order status – far more than any other activity.
- Meanwhile females under 30 are the most likely to use their smartphone to research investment products, at 44%.
- When looking at regions, while investors in the Bay Area are most likely to use their smartphone to monitor their portfolio (41%), Northeasterners are some of the most likely investors to check the market (36%).
- E*TRADE customers are very mobile-engaged, ranking as some of the most prolific mobile users for checking the market (37%), reading news about potential investments (23%) and watching educational videos (13%).
With respect to the future of mobile investing, John Matos who oversees digital channels at E*TRADE Financial offered the following insights:
- Service will grow more collaborative. Mobile will enable greater interaction between service reps and customers, e.g., investors will be able to screen share with reps through their smartphone in order to get a helping hand.
- Investors will not need a phone to keep a watchful eye. They will simply check their wearable technologies (for instance, smart watches) to review their portfolio or get stock quotes.
- Experiences will blend. Platforms, tools, sites and devices are integrating rapidly. Accordingly, the native app will no longer be thought of as a distinct experience, but as one part of a unified experience with their provider – from desktop to tablet to smartphone.
