Risk-averse Brits have long struggled to get into investing. Luckily, the similarly cautious Swedes can teach us a few things, writes Martin Björnberg

When City minister Emma Reynolds announced the UK needed a “new investment culture”, she articulated a long-recognised truth: Britain is underinvested. The figures are stark. Discounting pensions, just eight per cent of Britons invest directly. The average across G7 nations is nearly twice that, whilst in the US it is over four times higher. And this is terrible news for everyone. Capital markets are held back. Meanwhile, savers, are potentially losing out since returns from elsewhere are worse. So what can be done?

To solve the problem we must first understand it. British comparative aversion to equities is not entirely irrational; rather it stems partly from our love – some might say obsession – with property. When Britons have money to invest they usually do so in bricks-and-mortar, where 50 per cent of our national savings reside. A historic sense that homes are castles, combined with real belief in the phrase “safe as houses”, was further encouraged by (now-repealed) tax incentives making buy-to-let even more attractive. When we........

© City A.M.