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As a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) with over 36 years of experience in the industry, my mission is to support you in reaching your financial goals by advising you to make smart choices through trusted and valued guidance. My downtime is spent enjoying my five grandchildren and traveling with my wife Cindy of 40 years. I am actively involved in my church community and other philanthropic work.
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Financial Guidance Group, an...
The stock market rebound and increased consumer confidence have not convinced affluent investors surveyed in February that the Recession is over.
More than half – 54.4 percent – disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement, “The recession is over and the economy is rapidly improving.”
Only 4.4 percent strongly agreed with the statement, and 11. 6 percent agreed, in a Spectrem Group study of investors with assets of $500,000 or more. The remaining 29.6 were neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
“Falling home values and a weak job market are weighing down the confidence of many Affluent Investors,” said Catherine McBreen, managing director of Spectrem. “Fears of inflation are also a limiting factor.”
The Conference Board, which tracks public sentiment in its leading Consumer Confidence Index, reported on Tuesday that confidence, which had increased in January, improved further in February. The Index now stands at 70.4 (1985=100), up from 64.8 in January.
The board also reported increases in it Present Situation Index, which improved to 33.4 from 31.1. The Expectations Index increased to 95.1 from 87.3 last month.
Millionaires surveyed by Spectrem last fall maintain that employment not the stock market will pull the economy out of recession. Eighty-one percent said a drop in unemployment would signal an end to the Recession, while 19 percent look to a rising stock market. More than 60 percent said unemployment would have to fall below 6 percent to signal an economic recovery.
