It appears that global high-net-worth investors may be conquering their fears and looking to push some of their chips back into the middle of the table in early 2016.
According to a recent survey by international independent financial consultancy deVere Group of nearly 800 high-net-worth clients worldwide (defined in this case as those with at least $1.5 million in investible assets), 76 percent indicated that they intended to increase their investments in the first half of 2016.
Faced with the question: “Do you intend to invest more in the first six months of 2016?” only 14 percent of respondents answered “no,” with 10 percent still undecided.
“The results of this poll clearly show high-net-worth individuals now have a strong appetite to use the cash that they have held in reserve to top up and diversify their investment portfolios,” deVere Group founder and Chief Executive Nigel Green said. "It would appear that many high-net-worth individuals kept their powder dry during 2015, as the markets rose then fell and as we braced ourselves for the first Fed rate hike in almost a decade. But any qualms they might have had last year are now countered by more attractive prices.”
Green attributes this increased desire to widespread investor belief that markets are at or near bottom after recent plunges.
“It is a sound investment strategy to put new cash to use in the market whilst prices are relatively low.” Green said, adding that investors “are aware of the opportunities to buy high quality equities at the prices they want to pay. They are seeing more favorable choices to boost their portfolios for the longer-term.”
Ultimately, though he acknowledges that the market can be unpredictable and there’s no sure way to know that this is the bottom, Green strongly maintains that “Capitalizing like this on the attractive long-term performance of stock markets is a time-honored way that investors can successfully build wealth.”
