According to Morgan Stanley’s latest Investor Pulse poll – carried out in Q4 2013 - 88 per cent of US high net worth investors expect their financial well-being to be better or the same as in 2013.

According to Morgan Stanley’s latest Investor Pulse poll – carried out in Q4 2013 - 88 per cent of US high net worth investors expect their financial well-being to be better or the same as in 2013. Additionally, 84 per cent anticipate their investment portfolios to be the better or the same, while 70 per cent see a “better/same” investment climate.

The findings also reflect State Street's latest Investor Confidence Index reading, which - as reported on Family Wealth Report today - illustrates a big spike in US investor confidence for the month of January (view here).

“The experience of 2013 has not been lost on investors,” said Gregory Fleming, president, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

“Despite a great deal of economic uncertainty, equity markets performed strongly as expectations accelerated for economic growth, and investors are looking for more of the same in 2014,” Fleming said.

However, despite respondents' overall bullishness, 90 per cent are very or somewhat concerned about prospects for the US economy; 87 per cent about the government budget deficit; 82 per cent about increased foreign conflicts; 81 per cent about the US trade deficit; and 75 per cent on the effects of terrorism on the nation, Morgan Stanley said.

Similarly, when Tiger 21, the US peer group for wealthy investors, polled its members for its year-end survey, 66 per cent believed that the overall performance of the markets will be worse this year, while 26 per cent anticipate it will be about the same and just 8 per cent think it will be better than 2013.

Additional findings

Investors expect to end 2014 with the largest portion of their portfolio (42 per cent) dedicated to equities (including stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds), with cash and fixed income the next highest allocation (both 23 per cent), followed by all other investments (13 per cent).

Millionaire investors say they will commit an even higher allocation of 50 per cent to equities. When Tiger 21 members were asked which asset classes they are most enthusiastic about for 2014, the top two responses were public equities (27 per cent) and private equity (22 per cent). In December 2013 it emerged that private equity is a popular asset class among family offices and foundations, with one in three of respondents to a survey saying they commit at least 20 per cent of assets to the sector.

Meanwhile – and perhaps reflecting some continuing caution - gold is seen as a “good” (42 per cent) or “neutral” investment (34 per cent) by three-quarters of investors. At BullionVault.com, the online trading platform for precious metals, the view is that private investor appetite for gold remains undimmed, despite that the yellow metal suffered its biggest fall since 1981 (view article here). 

A total of 1,004 US investors, age 25 to 75, with $100,000 or more in investable household financial assets took part in the survey. A third of those interviewed had $1 million or more in household financial assets.