Just under half (47 per cent) of millionaires like to be actively involved in the day-to-day management of their investments, down from 69 per cent in 2009, according to a new Spectrem Group study.

The key finding is that the proportion of millionaire investors who like to micro-manage their investments has declined, from 65 per cent last year and 69 per cent in 2009. Here, investors are defined as having a net worth of between $1 million and $5 million, not including primary residence.

At a higher end of the wealth scale, 50 per cent of survey respondents worth between $5 million and $25 million (NIPR) said they wanted an active investing role. This compares to 63 per cent in 2010 and 67 per cent in 2009.

The finds are from Millionaire Investors 2011, Vol 1 and UHNW Investors 2011, Vol 1 respectively.

“Millionaires’ desire to roll up their sleeves and get involved with their own investments has declined substantially since 2009, following a period of intense vigilance and participation during the financial crisis,” said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group.

Various scandals targeting ultra-wealthy private investors, such as the Madoff and Stanford affairs, have come to light in recent years and left private wealth holders feeling they need to take a closer interest in their finances, especially as they appeared to involve well-known financial institutions.

Spectrem also found the number of millionaire and UHNW investors who say they “enjoy investing” and would not want to give it up has fallen. For millionaires, the figures are 64 per cent in 2009 and 45 per cent in 2011; for the UHNW they are 63 per cent in 2009 and 54 per cent in 2011.

The study of millionaires is based on an online survey of the financial decision-makers of 1,484 households with a net worth of $1 million to $5 million (NIPR). The UHNW version is based on an online survey of the financial decision-makers of 649 households with $5 million to $25 million of net worth (NIPR).