Wealthy and affluent high on economy, leery of market

Although affluent and millionaire investors may be more optimistic about the economy, they are still not confident about the stock market, according to a survey released today by Phoenix Marketing International of Rhinebeck, N.Y. The survey, conducted online in June, included 1,264 investors, including 864 mass affluent investors with $250,000 to $999,000 in investible assets and 400 millionaires. In what marked the highest level of optimism in the past year, 43% of the “mass affluent” reported that they were “mostly or extremely” optimistic about the U.S. economy over the next three months, up from 34% in April and 18% in February. Millionaires were also optimistic, with 46% expressing optimism, up from 39% in April. But affluent and millionaire investors are still leery of the stock market. A full 77% of affluent individuals surveyed said that they were much or somewhat less confident about investing in the market compared with six months ago. For millionaires, 59% of those surveyed reported that they were much or somewhat less confident about the stock market. As a result, most are planning to make no significant changes to their portfolios: 71% of mass affluent respondents said that they planned to make no net changes to their investments in the next three months, up from 65% in April. As for millionaires, 61% said that they planned no noteworthy changes to their portfolios.