Investor Sentiment Improves in Q1, John Hancock Finds

Bonds and cash continued to be unpopular vehicles, with 36% and 61%, respectively, saying it was a bad or very bad time to invest in those.

Investors regarded retirement investment vehicles positively: four out of five said now was a good time to be putting money into 401(k) plans and IRAs. Half of investors felt the same about 529 college savings plans. Optimism held steady for target risk/lifestyle funds and target-date funds.

In other findings, investors believed now was a good time to do the following:

• Purchase a home (73%)
• Spend money on a big-ticket item (44%)
• Sell a home (42%)
• Spend money on travel or vacations (41%)

“Yet while overall investor sentiment has stayed positive, 21% of those we surveyed are very concerned about inflation,” Bill Cheney, John Hancock’s chief economist, said in a statement.

“Other top concerns are political gridlock in Washington, DC, with 55% citing this as something they are worried about, and the level of the national debt (45%), and half are very concerned about the cost of health care.”

In assessing the outlook for the capital markets, 27% of investors picked blue chips to perform best in the next six months, while 17% chose small-cap stocks (17%) and 11% emerging markets investments.

Fifty-six percent of investors in the survey thought the technology sector most likely to provide the best investment opportunity in the next six months, followed by health care (48%) and energy (46%).