On March 9, Spectrem surveyed hundreds of investors to determine what amount of financial pain they thought the coronavirus would bring to the U.S. economy, and to personal household finances.

In early March, the full extent of the coronavirus on the health of the people of the world and the health of the global economy was not fully understood. Many people were maintaining hope that the crisis would be averted somehow, and that the impact would be much smaller than it has turned out to be.

In mid-April, Spectrem will publish the second issue of Corona Crash: What Advisors Should Be Saying to Investors Now, and it will be available here. It will be very important to compare the reaction of investors from March 9 to the reaction of investors who were surveyed in early April to see how investor sentiment has changed.

Here are a couple of key facts from the March Corona Crash report that will likely be greatly changed in the April study:

·       Investors were asked in both February and March to place the impact of the coronavirus on the economy on a 0-to-100 scale. In February, well before the virus had gotten a strong foothold throughout the country, the rating was 60.94, indicating even then investors knew the virus would have an impact on the economy. Then, in early March, investors were asked the same question and the rating jumped 10 points to 70.49. What will that measure be in the April fielding?

·       Investors were asked in early March just how much of an impact the virus and its attack on the economy had hurt their personal finances. Only 9 percent said they had lost a “significant” amount of net worth, while 19 percent said they had lost “a fair amount.” That adds up to less than 30 percent of investors who felt a notable pinch in their net worth due to the economic disruption. Thirty-nine percent said they had lost “a small amount’’’ of their net worth by early March. Again, let’s see what the April study had to say on that point, shall we?      

 

©Spectrem 2020

Keywords: economy, investors, advisors, Spectrem, coronavirus, Corona Crash, impact