Fidelity Investments’ 5th Millionaire Outlook survey offers a mixed bag of positive and negative sentiment among the country’s most well-heeled investors.
The survey analyzes investing attitudes and behaviors of more than 1,000 millionaire households, defined as those with at least $1 million in investable assets. To quantify respondents’ sentiments, the survey used a scale with “+100” representing the most favorable outlook, “-100” indicating the most negative outlook, and “0” reflecting a neutral outlook.
When it came to the future of the financial environment, respondents recorded a +39 score, the highest level since the survey’s creation in 2006 and this category has improved by 50% each year since 2009. The increasing positive outlook is driven by a positive outlook on business spending (+43) and the highest level of confidence in consumer spending (+42) in survey history.
“In many ways, what millionaires have been thinking and doing can be a strong indicator for financial trends, as they are often the first to jump on an opportunity in the market,” Fidelity President Michael Durbin said in a press release.
While most respondents were bullish on the economy’s future, the same can’t be said for the current financial environment, which garnered a -29 score. Investors attributed their overall lack of confidence in today’s financial environment to a lack of confidence in real estate (-72), business spending (-32) and the economy (-49).
Millionaires surveyed ranked domestic stocks as their No. 1 investment, followed by certificates of deposit, money market accounts, cash equivalents and exchange traded funds. Surveyed millionaire investors displayed an inverse trend in investment strategies than the average investor when choosing equities over fixed-income investments.
The survey shows today’s average millionaire is 61-years-old and has $3.05 million in investable assets. Eighty-six percent of millionaires consider themselves “self-made” and do not believe they grew up wealthy. However, the survey found self-made millionaires feel equally as financially secure as those who were born wealthy.
Kylie Hennagin writes for
