Five Years Later: How The Crisis Changed Investor Behaviour

Harriet Davies

4 April 2013

The financial crisis wasn’t all bad, a new US-based survey suggests, as it helped instill some positive behaviors into personal investors.

In a study, called Five Years Later, Fidelity Investments has examined the way investors feel now about the crisis – an event which had a huge psychological impact on them.

Some of the well-known negative effects of the crisis were also documented in the study, with 17 per cent of people saying the head of their household lost a job; nearly half of people saying their household had significant assets wiped out, with this reaching around a third of assets in some cases; and around 35 per cent saying they recorded a large drop in income.

Psychologically, many remembered feeling scared or confused at the time. This fear has since shifted though, and left in its place greater resolve and preparedness when it comes to finances, Fidelity found.

“Whether it was increasing contribution rates to a 401(k) or IRA, adjusting asset allocation or increasing the frequency of financial discussions with family, the silver lining of this crisis is that it spurred investors to reassess and take action to improve their finances. We have seen this firsthand with seminar attendance at our local branches nearly doubling since 2007,” said Kathleen Murphy, president of personal investing at Fidelity Investments.

Some of the most common financial planning steps investors have taken include: increasing savings rates (42 per cent), reducing personal debt (49 per cent), and building an emergency fund (42 per cent).

These behavioural changes bode well for retirement planning, which is generally considered to be in a woeful state among the population at large in the US, as well as in other countries with similar population dynamics such as the UK.

“Fidelity has seen a 33 per cent increase in participants seeking guidance with their retirement planning over the last several years, and we know increased engagement will ultimately lead to better outcomes,” said James MacDonald, president of workplace investing at Fidelity Investments.

This provides a fertile environment for financial advisors, as investors seek information and perspective with which to make decisions. Around a quarter of respondents in the survey said they rely more on a financial professional for help now than they did before the crisis.

The study was conducted online among 1,154 adult investors by GfK Public Affairs and Corporate Communication during the period of February 12-25, 2013. Panel members were chosen to be nationally representative in the US using a probability-based sampling method, the firm said.