All About the Gains
With the Budget fast approaching, Startup Coalition has launched a new report calling for steps to put wealth-building at the heart of the Government’s growth strategy, powered by UK Fintechs.
New data released today is stark:
Only 50% of UK adults currently invest in anything.
Meanwhile, rising inflation has eroded over £400 billion in household savings: their money is not working hard enough for them.
In polling, 75% of Britons believe the economy will worsen over the next 12 months: a mood of deepening pessimism.
Yet nearly half still feel optimistic about their own financial future — especially among younger people.
Why the disconnect? For us, there are three key barriers to unlocking wealth-building for the many:
Financial illiteracy: Nearly half of adults say they know “little or nothing” about investing. Knowledge correlates strongly with social grade and education.
Limited access to affordable advice: Only 9% of adults accessed regulated financial advice in the past year; one in five get no advice at all.
Regulatory and market frictions: Outdated rules on investor classification, payments infrastructure, and data hinder digital innovation and inclusion.
Put differently: millions see the idea of investing positively, but systems, gatekeepers, and complexity block their entry.
Amid these headwinds, the UK’s WealthTech sector is quietly thriving:
It’s worth at least £9 billion and employs over 10,000 people.
Among 286 WealthTech firms surveyed: ~58 % are B2B, ~42 % have B2C elements, and 15 % are direct-to-consumer investment platforms.
These startups are innovating in education, advice, decision support, automation, and execution, making financial services more accessible and user-friendly.
In other words: the machinery to democratise investing is here. But the policy and regulatory environment hasn’t caught up.
That’s where our roadmap comes in:
Education: we want to embed financial literacy into schools and colleges, with innovation partners from fintechs. This can be achieved by using Junior ISAs (JISAs) not just as tax wrappers, but as pedagogical tools. The Government should enable view-only access from age 12, so children can see contributions, performance, and goals. Meanwhile, it should also pay kids to learn about finance by depositing small sums (e.g. £20) into JISAs when students complete literacy modules.
AI Advice: we also want to talk about how to democratise access to advice. On the one hand, AI chatbots like ChatGPT already offer scalable, free, and accessible financial guidance. On the other, they sit outside regulatory oversight. It was unfortunate that the recent FCA Advice-Guidance Boundary Review hasn’t really grappled with this challenge. In the short-term, we must adapt to this reality by making Targeted Support as accessible and scalable as possible.
Empowerment: deploying an Open Finance regime, unlocking access to pensions, savings, investments, and data would bring investment into the same data-sharing ecosystem as banking, enabling smarter, personalized products. Further, expanding Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) so people can automate allocations flexibly would habitualise investing.
Execution: the FCA’s legacy distinction of Retail vs Sophisticated investors trap many in binary cages. We are proposing a new “Emerging Investor” classification: a middle ground that allows gradual access to higher-growth opportunities under guardrails. Meanwhile, we’re also keen to highlight the ISA reforms that nobody’s talking about. We want ISAs to incorporate more products, and also be more accessible via a 7-day switching service guarantee.
This isn’t just a “finance policy” issue, it’s a growth, equity, and political economy issue.
Democratizing investing can:
Broaden capital flows to startups, scaleups, and innovative firms
Align more citizens with economic upside and national growth
Reduce wealth inequality by giving more people access to compounding returns
If we get this right, Britain can lead the world in democratized wealth, not just in fintech innovation, but in ensuring that the gains of growth are shared widely, not hoarded by the few. Is this Government really All About the Gains? Time will tell.