Wealthy feeling more confident about their investments

The affluent are feeling as confident now about the economy and their investments as they did in December 2007. This, according to the latest results of two monthly surveys examining the investment attitudes of the well-off and millionaires. Despite their optimism, investors still have concerns about the stock market, the economy, household cash flow, retirement, and the political climate, the surveys showed. “Millionaires and the broader affluent population were both more optimistic about the investment environment in April than at any time since December 2007,” said George H. Walper, Jr., President of Spectrem Group, which produced the two surveys. “However, the outlook of both groups remains neutral with some lingering uncertainty about the economy — specifically, unemployment levels.” According to the Labor Department's data earlier this month, the unemployment rate stalled at 9.7% in March, and economists surveyed by Bloomberg News don't expect the data to improve much in May's report. The Spectrem Group indices are based on 250 monthly interviews with the financial decision-makers in households with $500,000 or more in investable assets. The data about millionaires comes from a subset of that group.