More than one-third of investors see no need to change their investment strategy over the next 12 months, neither adding nor subtracting from their investment funding.

As part of its monthly Confidence Index, Spectrem asks investors a single question reflecting current events or investment strategies. For July, the question was “what is the most significant change or action you plan to take over the next 12 months to improve your financial well-being?” and 34 percent of all investors said, “no change”.

Is that good news or bad news for investors and advisors? “No change” means no additional investing, but it also means not pulling back from the current investment environment. It’s clear many investors are in a holding pattern.

The same question was asked of investors three months ago, and only 29 percent were in “No Change’’ mode. “No change” has been the most popular answer each of the last five times the question was asked (and it is asked every three months).

The second most popular answer is “alter investment strategies" (18 percent) without picking a direction, like more investing or less investing. The answer seems to indicate an intention to try and determine just what investments are going to be impacted positively and which ones will be impacted negatively by current events.

The third most popular answer was “save more", selected by 10 percent of all investors.

While there is little movement among the responses over three months, there has been a change over the past five times the question has been asked. Over 15 months, there has been an increased interest in saving more, but a significant drop in investing in new products, which might mean a pull away from alternative investments.

There was a noticeable difference between Millionaire and non-Millionaire investors in terms of employment plans. Six percent of affluent investors said they are planning a change in employment, which is a fairly high percentage. Among Millionaires, while 11 percent plan to save more, 10 percent say they will invest more.

  

©2018 Spectrem Group