Investing 50,000 euros: One in two young people would turn to a financial advisor
The first CORUM L'Épargne Barometer shows that financial confidence is rebounding among young people: wealth management advice is gaining ground as investment amounts rise, artificial intelligence is playing a role in investment decisions, and schools are expected to teach students about investing.
This finding may come as a surprise to those who thought that people under 25 had definitively embraced the all-digital world. When asked whom they would turn to in order to invest 50,000 euros, one in two 18- to 24-year-olds cited a wealth management advisor. For an amount ten times smaller—5,000 euros—only 37% would do so. This 13-point jump, measured by the first CORUM L'Épargne survey conducted with OpinionWay, places the perceived value of advice well beyond the initial stage of saving: its legitimacy becomes apparent as soon as the complexity increases.
This trend is evident across the entire population, where the use of an advisor rises from 51% to 62% of responses between the two amounts. The banker remains the primary point of contact, cited by 75% of respondents for 50,000 euros, but the gap with wealth management advisors narrows as the amount increases. Family members, meanwhile, continue to be consulted overwhelmingly, even though this figure drops from 75% to 63% among younger respondents as the financial stakes rise. This shift reveals a hierarchy of trust that shifts depending on the amount involved: family members for smaller sums, professionals for major decisions.
Artificial Intelligence Is Making Its Way Into Investment Decisions
Another finding is that AI is becoming established in the realm of wealth management decisions, though it does not yet dominate it. For an investment of 5,000 euros, 19% of 35- to 49-year-olds say they would seek advice from artificial intelligence, and that figure rises to 22% for 50,000 euros: among this working-age generation, the larger the sum, the more they turn to the tool. The trend is reversed among 18- to 24-year-olds, whose reliance drops from 30% to 25% as the amount increases, as if the higher stakes were driving them back toward human advisors. The trend remains stable among those aged 50 and older, who are less inclined to entrust their investment decisions to a machine.
A direct comparison with financial professionals requires some nuance. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, 24% say they trust AI more than their bank representative, and 18% say they trust it more than their financial advisor. Among 35- to 49-year-olds, these percentages drop to 17% and 11%. In other words, when compared to AI, trust in wealth management advice remains higher than trust in bankers across nearly all age groups. The human channel remains the strongest, but the lead is narrowing among younger people—a sign that financial institutions cannot ignore.
These results are of direct interest to distribution networks. While banks certainly retain the top spot, their dominance is most evident with modest amounts, where the checking account relationship takes precedence. As soon as savers aim to invest a sum for the long term, wealth management advisors and specialized platforms enter the picture and capture a share of the added value. For independent providers—who are often excluded from initial savings decisions—the 50,000-euro threshold serves as a gateway: this is the point at which the prospective client agrees to pay for advice that they previously considered unnecessary for their initial deposits.
A Generation Calling for Financial Education
The clearest signal comes from schools. In total, 82% of French people want schools to play a role in financial education. That figure rises to 95% among 18- to 24-year-olds, 46% of whom specifically expect to be taught how to invest—compared to an average of 29% and just 20% among those aged 65 and older. The demand for investment education—which until now has been driven by institutional players—is becoming a generational expectation, contrary to the common perception that young people are indifferent to financial matters.
The survey, conducted from April 2 to 8, 2026, among 1,004 representative respondents aged 18 and older, paints a picture of a young clientele that is more mature than expected in its approach to saving. “The strongest signal from this first survey comes from young people. They want to learn how to invest, they consult their families just as much as their bankers, and they approach artificial intelligence without naivety,” summarizes Carole Rousseau, president of CORUM L’Épargne, who believes this generation is less interested in having decisions made for them than in gaining the tools to understand. This is a direct call to savings industry players to prioritize transparency and education.
Source: CORUM L'Épargne x OpinionWay survey, conducted April 2–8, 2026, among 1,004 people representative of those aged 18 and older, using the quota method, with a margin of error of 1.4 to 3.1 points (press release dated July 1, 2026).
