Investment buying sentiment among affluent households continued an upward trend that began in August 2005, according to the February 2006 Phoenix Affluent Marketing Service (AMS), the largest continuously fielded syndicated survey of affluent households in the U.S. The Phoenix survey reports that 42 percent of mass affluent households plan to make net increases to their portfolio in the next three months, up from 38 percent in February 2005.
According to the survey, affluent households plan to make net portfolio increases to the following accounts:
-- Retirement accounts: 70 percent
-- Deposit accounts: 62 percent
-- Mutual funds: 46 percent
-- Stocks: 42 percent
-- Real estate: 21 percent
-- Fixed income: 13 percent
-- Business investments: 11 percent
-- Alternative investments: 3 percent
In addition, 53 percent of affluent consumers plan to make no net changes to their portfolios, while just 4 percent say they are likely to make net decreases to their portfolios in the next three months.
