Research commissioned by Natixis shows that 55 per cent of individual investors in the UK fear losing money due to market volatility and that this is limiting their investing. Predictability and capital protection are the priorities, with 62 per cent of investors saying that if forced to choose, they would take safety over performance.

While 55 per of UK investors claim to seek a balance between risk and return, they demonstrate poor understanding of the investment classes that might help them achieve this, the firm said. Only 26 per cent of UK investors say they are interested in investments that are unrelated to the broader market and just 15 per cent currently have alternative investments in their portfolios.

The report has positive news for advisors, saying that the advisor-client relationship appears to be growing in quality. A majority of UK investors say their advisor understands their attitude to risk, half say their advisor is helping them understand the full range of investment options and 60 per cent report their advisor clearly explains the relationship between the risk and return profiles of their investments.

The online survey of 733 individual UK investors with a minimum of £200,000 (around $323,330) in investible assets was conducted by CoreData Research in May-June 2012 on behalf Natixis Global Asset Management.