Three quarters of high-net-worth individuals plan to increase contributions to their investment portfolios in the first half of 2016, reveals a new poll by deVere Group, one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organisations.
The majority (76 per cent) of respondents confirmed that they intend to increase their investments during the first six months of the year. A tenth (10 per cent) were not sure, while only 14 per cent said they had no intention to invest more.
The survey covered 767 people with investable assets of £1 million (Dh5.32 million) or more from countries including the UAE, the US, the UK, Australia, Qatar, and Switzerland. The survey was carried out in January 2016.
“The results of this poll clearly show high-net-worth individuals now have a strong appetite to use the cash that they have held in reserve to top up and diversify their investment portfolios," says Nigel Green, founder and chief executive officer of deVere Group.
“The survey overwhelmingly demonstrates that they are aware of the opportunities to buy high quality equities at the prices they want to pay. They are seeing more favourable choices to boost their portfolios for the longer-term.
“It is a sound investment strategy to put new cash to use in the market while prices are relatively low. Capitalising like this on the attractive long-term performance of stock markets is a time-honoured way that investors can successfully build wealth.”
He adds: “No-one can predict exactly what the markets will do in the immediate future and it’s too early to say if this is or isn’t the bottom of the market. But our poll suggests that high-net-worth investors believe that it is close to the bottom and that there are major buying opportunities.
“It would appear that many high-net-worth individuals kept their powder dry during 2015, as the markets rose then fell and as we braced ourselves for the first Fed rate hike in almost a decade. But any qualms they might have had last year are now countered by more attractive prices.
“They are moving away from a preservation approach by diversifying their investment portfolios. As shown by decades of financial market data, this is the correct approach to risk management.”
