America?s wealthy and affluent aren?t worried about the health of their stock portfolios, but they think the next generation will have a tough time financially.
A recent survey of the wealthiest 1 percent of U.S. citizens found that their confidence in the stock market has rebounded since last year?s stock market dip.
In 2005, the affluent were worried about inflation and losses in their stock investments, according to the 2006 U.S. Trust Survey of Affluent Americans. The annual survey ? now in its 25th year ? was done by U.S. Trust, a 143-year-old wealth management company based in New York.
Baltimore County is the 16th-wealthiest region in the nation, U.S. Trust said.
The wealthiest Americans, including those in the Baltimore region, are seeing growth in their stock investment, the survey said. About 91 percent of survey respondents said their investment portfolios increased in value over the past year. That?s up from 81 percent in 2005.
Over the next 12 months, affluent investors expect an 8 percent return on their investments, the survey said. “After a brief period of uncharacteristic pessimism, affluent investors have returned to their traditional belief in a strong U.S. economy and healthy U.S. stock market,” Leslie Smith, division vice president of U.S. Trust in Washington, D.C., said in a statement.
“At the same time, the affluent seem to realize that stock market gains are unlikely to replicate the inflated levels of the bull market at the end of the last decade,” Smith said.
But the wealthy are not confident in the real estate market, according to the survey. Less than 48 percent expect their real estate investments to grow.
Lack of confidence hasn?t stopped the wealthy from buying upscale single-family homes and condominiums at Quarry Lake in Baltimore County, said Diana Van Stone, a vice president with Beazer Homes, which isdeveloping the area.
U.S. Trust defined the wealthy as those with an annual adjusted gross income of more than $300,000 or a net worth greater than $5.9 million.
