Social investing, Sustainable investing, Investing behavior

How to support Gen-Y consumers to start investing sustainably

When you invest your money, you have the potential to make a huge impact on the world of tomorrow. That is why it is so important to help people in choosing sustainable focused investments. I proposed a design solution that connects to the investing needs of Gen-Y to motivate them to start investing sustainably.

Researcher:

Segher Brons

Design methodologies:

Vision in product design
Interviews
Questionnairs
User testing

Project type: Master Project

Domain: Strategic Product Design

2022

Challenge

Investing has become a hot topic among the younger generation since the Covid-19 crisis. However, much of its potential is still unused, as seen in a big group of the younger generation which is positive to start but procrastinates this decision. While this younger generation would like to make a positive impact with their money on the environment of the planet earth, the existing investing propositions aren’t helping them with that sustainable mission.

Prove has a strong foundation as a social platform with an active forum where you share the reasons why you invest in specific companies.
Segher Brons

Result

In this thesis, I researched how Rabobank can help this group of young non-investors to start investing with a sustainable focus. I conducted interviews and questionnaires and created a model about the steps people take before they start investing. I also researched the needs of generation-Y and their sustainable investing behavior. I found that most of this group has an unspecified moral compass and they need guidance to make conscious investing decisions. With this information I created a social investing platform, Prove.

Prove is a social investing platform that focuses on making a positive, sustainable impact while using the power of the crowd. With Prove, you can share anonymously why you buy your stocks. As a user you can see these opinions to help you find an investment you like in an easy and more engaging way than only comparing numbers. These opinions also serve to send a message on why certain sustainable stocks were chosen and enable change. Prove seems to be a concept that solves the problems of attention, guidance and risk into one overarching concept that was searched for. The possibility of sharing why you buy specific stocks could result in a real revolution on the stock trading market for retail investors.