Self-Directed Investors Staying in the Market, Cutting Expenses: Survey

Eighty-six percent of self-directed investors in a new survey said they are concerned or very concerned about inflation, and 79% are similarly worried about the stock market, Janus Henderson Investors reported this week.

Yet the survey found that just 13% of investors have moved money out of stocks or bonds and into cash. Instead, they have tightened their budgets.

Forty-nine percent of respondents said they have reduced their spending or plan to reduce spending as a result of the financial markets and rising inflation.

Moreover, 45% of investors said they feel less confident about their prospects for living comfortably throughout retirement. Nine percent have hired a financial advisor this year, or plan to do so, but less than 2% said they plan to change advisors because of the market downturn.

“With both stocks and bonds posting three consecutive quarters of negative returns in 2022, investor confidence has suffered, but it hasn’t collapsed,” Matt Sommer, head of Janus Henderson Investors’ defined contribution and wealth advisor services team, said in a statement.