Where America's Wealthy Invest Their Money

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jan 8, 2015) - Most affluent Americans don't sit on their wealth; they use it to build their portfolios through wise investments. Spectrem's newest research study, Asset Allocation, Portfolios and Primary Providers, details the portfolios of affluent investors in multiple wealth segments, ranging from investors with a net worth of $100,000 to those with $25 million. Past and future investment decisions and the professionals used in decision-making are analyzed.

Key findings include:

• Investors are aware of the developing market of wealth management, but few use the services. Many believe "wealth management services" are too expensive to consider for their portfolios.
• The technology sector is the most popular choice for future investment (more than half for all wealth segments), followed by healthcare and pharmaceuticals. Sixty-one percent of Millionaire investors (with a net worth of $1-$5 million) said they would invest discretionary funds in technology, followed by healthcare (58 percent) and pharmaceuticals (47 percent).
• Ownership of life insurance policies ranges from 61 percent of Mass Affluent investors ($100,000-1 million net worth) to 56 percent among Ultra High Net Worth investors ($5 -25 million net worth). Long-term insurance ownership is much lower in all segments.
• Wealthy investors look to overseas investment opportunities more than investors from the less wealthy segments.
  
  

"Investors change their investment priorities throughout their lives; younger investors are more likely to take a chance on alternative investments in order to increase the diversity of their portfolio," says George H. Walper, Jr., president of Spectrem Group. "Investors differ in terms of how they use financial service providers to help them make decisions about investing, and have widely different expectations about the services they are looking for."

Additional information on the three wealth segment reports available, as well as information on other Spectrem studies, can be found at Spectrem.com and Spectrem's Millionaire Corner, including:

• Do Wealthy Investors Understand the Term "Wealth Management"?
• Where Wealthy Investors Place Their Money
  
  

About Spectrem Group: Spectrem Group (www.spectrem.com) strategically analyzes its ongoing primary research with investors to assist financial providers and advisors in understanding the Voice of the Investor.

About Millionaire Corner: Spectrem's Millionaire Corner website (www.millionairecorner.com) provides information for investors about investors. With its Best Financial Advisors service, investors are able to search for financial and investment advisors to assist in growing their wealth.

Charts and summary insights available upon request.