What we’re seeing

Transfers made for investing, identified in transaction data from Alkami Research’s analysis, reveal three primary personas of investors each at a different stage of investment maturity.

Aspirational Newbies are starting with their investment journey and are attracted to investment options with “set it and forget it” features that transfer small amounts on a frequent basis to help seed a nest egg. Aspirational Newbies are choosing fintech companies like Acorns, Albert, Oportun, Qapital, and Stash. In many cases, these are personal finance applications that have investment and savings features. 

The Emerging & Tech Savvy persona is starting to build a bigger nest egg, are thinking about their financial future, and like to take control of their investments, even if they still want help. Emerging and Tech Savvy investors are choosing brands such as Betterment, Etrade, Robinhood, SoFi, and Wealthfront. A well-designed and functional mobile application is a consumer demand, and this persona is likely open to a robo-advisor approach. 

The Well-Established group represents the more experienced persona who have the most to invest, and are typically working with traditional financial wealth brands that have advisory services. For a bank or credit union, the well-established investor is a great candidate for private client/wealth services. Well-Established investors choose brands such as American Funds, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, Schwab, Raymond James, and RBC.

Takeaway and Call to Action

By cleansing transaction data, financial institutions can reveal the specific merchants and brands that account holders interact with and better understand the persona, interests and needs that are implicit in that transaction behavior. With this information, banks and credit unions can personalize interactions and begin to treat each account holder as a true segment of one.