Nearly two-thirds of individual investors (65 percent) have at least some confidence in U.S. capital markets, an increase of four percentage points from 2011, according to the Center for Audit Quality’s (CAQ) 6th Annual Main Street Investor Survey. “Confidence in domestic markets has held remarkably steady throughout the financial crisis,” said CAQ Executive Director Cindy Fornelli. “Individual investors, as a group, have confidence in audited financial information released by public companies and believe that auditors are effective in looking out for investors’ interests.”
To Fornelli’s point, investor confidence in investing in U.S. publicly-traded companies held steady at 71 percent this year. Confidence dropped from 75 percent in 2010 to 70 percent in 2011. Since 2008, investor confidence in audited financial information has held steady at around 70 percent.
Other investor findings in this year’s survey include:
►70 percent of investors believe that the American economy will either stay the same or improve over the next year; only 20 percent believe it will get worse.
►25 percent of investors expect their personal financial situation to improve, and 64 percent expect it to stay the same over the next year.
►The four top economic concerns investors have are: not having enough money for retirement; not being able to afford health care if they or a family member are seriously ill or injured; not being able to maintain their current standard of living, and fear of losing their jobs.
►Investors identified independent auditors, financial advisors and brokers, and audit committees as most effective in looking out for investors’ interests.
►Confidence in capital markets outside the United States fell to a low of 35 percent (from 43 percent in 2011).
A telephone survey of 1,003 investors was conducted July 17-23, 2012 by The Glover Park Group, with a margin of error of+/-3.2 percent. Investors were defined as those with investments valued at $10,000 or more.
