3pts  Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII)^®   

Millionaires’ drop 3 points, from –9 to –12, nearing their all time low of –14.

4pts Spectrem Affluent Investor Index (SAII)^®    

The Affluent drop 4 points, from –13 to –17, also near their all time low of –20.

As an arduous first half of 2008 came to a close, with June the worst for the SP This month’s Affluent decline was mirrored by the Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII)®, which dipped 3 points from -9 to -12, nearing its all-time low of –14 from April 2008.

June’s Investment Preferences finds the affluent retrenching to the safer ground of Cash investments, while keeping some short-term speculative options open, particularly in individual Stocks. Millionaires and Affluent moved back into investing with strong showings in Stocks, Cash, and Real Estate. Cash rose 9.8 points from last month. Stocks also rose, fairly strongly with a 5.8 point increase.

Perhaps the most telling was the 15.1 drop in Not Investing which indicates the affluent are back to investing, though not across the board. Somewhat surprising was the increase in Real Estate. Just a 4.7 uptick, but it shows that the wealthy might be reassessing the damage done by the subprime fiasco and finding some good values in real estate again.

This overall selectiveness might just be investors shaking out what appear to good bets in this market, and holding off on long-term purchases, while looking for a quick stock profit in the uncertainty. Unsurprisingly, as oil prices surged past $143 for the first time ever, the affluent continue to rank the Economy as the most serious threat to achieving their household goals.

Every component in the Affluent Household Outlook fell this month, pulling the overall measure down to its lowest point ever at –8.5. Lower than the –6.9 it reached in April 2008. Strangely enough, the economy was the component that dropped the least, only 2.1. Perhaps the wealthy are becoming inured to the financial media’s general gloom and doom predictions.

---