Data & ResearchNovember 15, 2010

Millionaires Have Not Abandoned Market

Ninety-two percent of millionaires have not abandoned the stock market, with 43% currently engaged in moderate to heavy buying or selling and 49% waiting for the right opportunity to buy or sell.

Reported by Nicole Bliman

In fact, only 8% have exited the market altogether, according to the “Millionaire Investor Insights Annual Survey,” commissioned by U.S. Bank and conducted online by Harris Interactive.

Some of the key findings include:

Millionaires are in it for the long haul; only 20% who lost value in their investments since 2008 have seen their investments return to pre-2008 levels.
Forty-seven percent say their investment risk tolerance has not changed during the last three years and only one in 10 say they are not willing to take any investment losses in the current investment market.
In past three years, 47% of millionaires made no change in their allocation to equities, 42% made no change in their allocation to fixed income, and 47% made no change in their allocation to cash.
Seventy-two percent said the U.S. stock market performance has a major or moderate impact on their investment strategies.

“[Millionaires] haven’t overreacted,” said Mark Jordahl, president of U.S. Bank Wealth Management Group. “They’ve maintained a balanced approach to risk and its potential rewards, and while they are guardedly optimistic about the U.S. economy for 2011 and achieving their short-term investment goals, they say they are confident about achieving their long-term investment goals over the next six to ten years.”

The “Millionaire Investor Insights Annual Survey,” released by the Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank, looks at investment attitudes, behaviors, risk profile and strategies of millionaire investors. It was conducted between September 27 and October 15 among 1,609 U.S. households with investable assets of $1 million or more.