Spectrem Group’s study Using Social Media and Mobile Technology in Financial Decisions shows that most investors do not spend much time asking their smartphone to do anything other than make calls, text or accept and send emails. Internet searching and information retrieval are functions a smartphone can do but we don’t spend much time doing it that way, apparently.

The Spectrem study looked at investors from three different wealth segments, and then segmented those groups by age, wealth, advisor dependency and occupation.

Among Mass Affluent investors (with a net worth between $100,000 and $1 million Not Including Primary Residence), 60 percent said they spent less than five hours a week using their smartphone for extended purposes. Twenty-six percent said they used their smartphone for more than calls and texting between six to 15 hours. Only 14 percent said they used their smartphone like the very portable computer it is, employing it for more than 15 hours a week.

As wealth increased, use of a smartphone for really smart functions decreased. Among Millionaire investors (with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million NIPR), 63 percent use their smartphone less than five hours a week for extended purposes, and only 10 percent say they used it for more than 15 hours a week for Internet accessing and information retrieval.

Among Ultra High Net Worth investors (with a net worth between $5 million and $25 million NIPR), 64 percent are using their smartphones less than five hours a week beyond calling, texting and email. That segment reported 14 percent with more than 15 hours of usage a week.

 

Now let’s talk about the youngsters, relatively speaking. Among Mass Affluent investors 35 years of age and younger, 30 percent do use their smartphone for really smart functions more than 15 hours a week, and only 36 percent limit themselves to less than five hours a week. Similarly, 33 percent of UHNW investors under the age of 45 use their smartphone 15 hours a week or more for Internet searches, information retrieval or entertainment.

 

For more information on UHNW Investors and smartphone usage, click here