Our survey was uncomplicated. Essentially, it consisted of a single question:
- Suppose this state or society gives every (young) adult a seed capital for his/her life in the amount of 20,000 € - What would you do with your "basic inheritance"?
Christoph and Kathrin started the survey on 06/09/2015 at the parking lot of the Eremitage in Bayreuth. It was continued by Martina, Sebastian, Markus...
The responses were quite earnest. One can assume that in an actual case, the respondents would proceed in precisely the same way with their basic inheritance, namely thoughtfully.
Results:
Top 1
31 % - Own house or apartment
Own stove still seems to be worth its weight in gold. This is especially true for families. The basic inheritance can be understood as support for young families. It will assist in saving us from overaging.
Top 2
22 % - Invest money
Strikingly, the potential investors were rarely interested in what exactly the bank would do with their invested money. However, most were also surprised by the question. Anyone being aware that he/she will receive a basic inheritance in the long term is more likely to have an own investment plan as soon as it arrives.
Top 3
14 % - start up an own business
The answers in this group came very spontaneously. Here there are concrete plans, often only some own capital is missing, in order to create an enterprise. A small selection: Open a restaurant; set up a photo studio; open a studio for art education; buy a forest; set up a carpentry shop; buy a marimba (musician)...
Top 4
11 % - Financing education
As many of the respondents were already older, this group may be under-represented. We have also included the answers, enabling the children to get an education with a basic inheritance.
Top 5
9 % - Donations
Apparently there are still some people who can live happily with their income. And who can think out of the box at the same time? How fortunate for the country!
Findings from the survey:
The desire for substantial participation in the country's assets is great.
Over 50 % of respondents (answers 1 and 2: "house" and "invest money") aim for solid assets. The future entrepreneurs (answer 3: "Starting a business") are already filtered out. Ownership is also desired if one does not want to appear as an entrepreneur. Why? Because it frees.
Young entrepreneurs are ready and waiting for a chance to capital.
Extrapolated to Germany, and according to this survey, there would be over 100,000 young people each year who are waiting for some seed capital to start a business. In the 10 cohorts of 25-35 old persons, e.g., there would currently be over one million future entrepreneurs being slowed down. Can we afford it? And do we want to afford it?
The basic inheritance will not be wasted.
The fear that large parts of the basic inheritance would be pointlessly consumed is unfounded. Only 6 % of respondents initially gave a consumer-oriented response. They willingly corrected it after it was pointed out that the basic inheritance had to be invested for 3 years.