Fidelity Investments® today released results of its fourth Fidelity® Millionaire Outlook, an in-depth survey analyzing the investing attitudes and behaviors of more than 1,000 millionaire households , which reveals that while millionaires’ near-term confidence in the U.S. economy remains negative, their outlook is at the highest level since Fidelity began tracking their sentiment in 2006.
Using a scale where +100 represents the most favorable outlook, zero is neutral and -100 is the most negative outlook, the Fidelity survey finds that millionaires’ view on the current state of the U.S. economy remains “very weak” at -54, although up significantly from -91 reported less than two years ago. Despite their current view, millionaires’ outlook shifts dramatically in the positive direction (+37) by the fourth quarter of 2011.
“Although millionaires are inherently optimistic, given their current views of the economy, we were surprised to see millionaires so optimistic about the future,” said Michael R. Durbin, president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services®. “Millionaires’ outlook could be seen as a leading indicator of the direction of the economy, especially since the last time we conducted this survey in early 2009, they forecasted improvement in all aspects of the U.S. economy at the beginning of 2010.”
“Despite representing only 5 percent of U.S. households , because of the amount of wealth they control, millionaires have the potential to influence financial markets as well as demand for products and services,” said Sanjiv Mirchandani, president, National Financial®. “In many ways, the average investor can learn from what millionaires are thinking or doing. For instance, millionaires tend not to panic and become gripped by inertia, while they are careful about spending and have well-developed financial plans.”
Despite the stock market’s positive performance over the past couple of years, the Fidelity survey found that 42 percent of millionaires still do not feel wealthy, compared to 46 percent, who said they didn’t feel wealthy in 2009. In fact, among those who classified themselves as not feeling wealthy, the investable asset level needed to begin to feel wealthy is $7.5 million.
Of the 58 percent of millionaires who say they feel wealthy -- up slightly from 54 percent in 2009 -- they began to feel so at $1.75 million in investable assets, which is consistent with 2009 and up from $1.5 million in 2008.
“Our survey reinforces that the feeling of wealth is relative, based on factors such as the current market environment, a person’s age, lifestyle, and so on,” said Durbin. “Regardless of what the market does, these factors are likely to change and, therefore, millionaires will continue to reassess what it really means to feel wealthy.”
Link:
http://www.fidelity.com/inside-fidelity/individual-investing/millionaire-outlook-2011
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