Spectrem Affluent Investor Index (SAII)  Holds Steady.
The Spectrem Affluent Investor Index held steady at -1 on the index, in neutral territory.

Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII) Drops 4 points.
The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index dropped 4 points from July to August, stopping at 3 on the index, in neutral territory.

With the Spectrem Affluent Investor Index (SAII)® holding steady at –1 and Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII)® dropping 4 points to a neutral 3, the affluent are dubious concerning the recent recovery of the stock market and the Fed cutting interest rates. After last month’s rollercoaster ride that tested the tensile strength of the markets here and abroad, affluent investors are betting that the ride will not last.

Buoyed by the Federal Reserve’s half point interest rate drop, the Dow climbed back towards its all-time high. But relative stock market optimism hasn’t infected Spectrem’s Millionaire and Affluent Indices as directly as it has in the past.

With speculation that the country may be heading into a recession, the affluent are wary and they are not alone in their concerns. An informal Yahoo Finance poll showed that thirty-thousand site users are divided 50/50 on the odds of a recession occurring this year.

Six of seven investment preferences fell this month, pointing to a general malaise about investing. Not Investing fell slightly, meaning a small number have returned to investing, mostly the Affluent rather than Millionaires. What these mixed signals are saying is that the market is unsettled and no one is sure what the future will bring. It is possible that the affluent are doing other things with their money like paying off debt, but wherever they are going, they have moved strongly away from Stocks, Stock Mutual Funds, Bond Mutual Funds, and Real Estate, all showing record lows for this month.

That the affluent feel the economy remains the biggest threat to achieving their financial goals is not surprising.

Despite a big drop in economic outlook among Millionaires; -5 to -15, Spectrem’s Affluent Household Outlook rose 4.4 points. Deep concern lingers. The rise in this measure can largely be attributed to the rise in the stock market and drop in interest rates. Millionaires are feeling more optimistic about their company health (+9), while the Affluent are pulling the measure up with positive regard concerning their assets (+7) and income (+18).

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