America’s affluent and millionaire investors became more pessimistic during June, thanks mainly to the country’s domestic economic and political climate, according to a new survey. Despite the declines, both investor categories remain slightly more optimistic than they were in March.

The two indices that measure the sentiment of affluent and millionaire investors – the Spectrem Affluent Investor Index and the Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index – were both down 17 and 12 points respectively for June, as measured by US research firm Spectrem Group.

The group defines "affluent" as those households with $500,000 or more in investable assets; Spectrem conducts phone interviews with hundreds of affluent and millionaire clients each month and conceived the indexes in February 2004.

The decline in the affluent index leaves it just 3 points above its record low of -20, recorded in March this year. The millionaire index stands at its third-lowest level with its record low of -14 recorded in April 2008.

“Throughout the first half of the year, both groups have hovered around mildly bearish levels… it seems clear that both groups are entering the second half of the year in the grips of the same general malaise that defined 2008's first six months," said George Walper, Spectrem Group president.

In response to an open-ended question about the most serious threat to achieving their household financial goals, affluent investors in June cited the economy (20 per cent); the political climate (12 per cent); market conditions (8 per cent); unemployment (5 per cent); housing and real estate (4 per cent); and health-related issues (3 per cent).

Millionaires expressed slightly less concern (16 per cent) about the economy than the affluent in June and were most concerned with the political climate (19 per cent).