Millionaires are maintaining their long-standing connection to the stock market and most expect a stable, or improving market this year. Find out more.
Millionaire investors expect the recent dip in the stock market to be a temporary one, according to a recent survey by Millionaire Corner that shows the vast majority of affluent investors expect the stock market to hold steady or improve over 2012.
The S&P 500 Index is falling from a four-year high reached on April 2 as stocks decline on disappointing jobs numbers and reports that the Federal Reserve is backing away from further economic stimulus. Concerns over the sovereign debt crisis in Europe are also having a chilling effect on the stock market.
Though Millionaires express heightened concerns over the prolonged economic downturn and the political situation in the United States, according to research conducted by Millionaire Corner over the first quarter of 2012, most have a neutral or positive outlook for the stock market.
More than 40 percent of Millionaire investors expect the stock market to continue to grow over the next nine months, according to a survey of more than 900 investors conducted by Millionaire Corner in late March. More than 45 percent expect the stock market to “stay very close” to current levels and about 10 percent predict that the stock market will decline.
Most Millionaires – who have investable assets of $1 million to $5 million - own individual stocks and mutual funds investing in stocks, and have used equities as a primary tool for building their wealth. Nearly three-fourths of Millionaires own individual stocks for a men value of $273,000 and nearly half say they are likely to invest in stocks in 2012.
More than half of Millionaires – 52 percent – expect their personal financial situation to be stronger a year from now, according to our quarterly wealth study completed in March. One-third said they are willing to take “significant risk” to earn a high return on investments.
The relatively confident outlook from America’s millionaire investors runs counterpoint to the doomsayers predicting a sharp downturn for the stock market due to rising gas prices, crippling debt, a worldwide slowdown in industrial production and other macro economic factors. According today’s Macro Economist blog on Seeking Alpha, “The global economy appears to be sleepwalking toward the edge of the precipice.”
Millionaires remain overall optimistic in the face of such fears. More than 62 percent of those surveyed in March say they believe the U.S. economy is stronger now than it was a year ago – and nearly 40 percent say the stock market rally is the primary reason for that belief.
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