What kinds of people are direct equity investors?
More than 12 million people in the UK directly hold stocks and shares. Many of us snapped up shares when former public utilities such as BT and British Gas were privatised in the 1980s.
More have joined in the 1990s through building societies which have converted to banks, offering share "windfalls" to their former members.
In his recent Budgets, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, has undertaken to encourage companies to offer shares to employees. So for more and more investors the ownership of stocks and shares is playing an important role in securing their financial futures.