CHICAGO (HedgeWorld.com)–The latest Spectrem Affluent Investor Index shows that many among the wealthy have turned their attention to Social Security.
In response to an open-ended question about the news events driving their economic outlook, affluent investors (i.e., those in households with US$500,000 or more in investable assets) in February cited the Iraq war (20%), social security (12%), the deficit (8%) and increasing oil and gas prices (6%).
“This comes in sharp contrast to November 2004, when Social Security barely moved the needle in our polling,” said the president of Spectrem Group, George H. Walper Jr., in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Spectrem Millionaire Index showed that the financial decision makers in households with US$1,000,000 in investable assets put Social Security third on their list. It was cited by 8% of the millionaires, behind the war (19%) and the deficit (12%).