Even Millionaires Worry About This Economy

What does it mean when even the richest Americans are scared of the economy?

For the first time, millionaires tracked by Chicago’s Spectrem Group are more worried about the economy than the merely "affluent,” Spectrem said this week.

The Spectrem Millionaire Investor Index (SMII) fell in April to negative 14, a point lower than its lowest reading ever, a negative 13 set in March of this year.

The index has fallen a net 34 points since June of last year.

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Meanwhile, the consulting group’s affluent tracking report — which follows households with a half-million dollars or more in investable assets — gained seven points to reach negative 13.

That’s the first time ever that the millionaires were more pessimistic than the folks just below them on Spectrem’s ranking. The index begin in February 2004.

"Continuing a downward trend that began in June, millionaires' optimism eroded once again in April, sinking to a new low as the prospects for a recession continued to weigh heavily,” says George H. Walper, Jr., president of Spectrem Group.

"However, the investment outlook for the affluent was buoyed by April's financial market upswing. With the nation's economic outlook remaining uncertain, it will be interesting to see if the millionaires' increased pessimism will be borne out," Walper says.

In response to an open-ended question about the one factor most affecting their investment plans, affluent investors in April cited stock market conditions first, at 27 percent.

The economy followed, at 17 percent, then retirement issues at 6 percent.

The millionaires were slightly more concerned about stock market conditions (28 percent), retirement (7 percent), then housing and real estate (6 percent) in April.

The indexes are released monthly.

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