A total of 82% of participants in the Franklin Templeton Global Investor Sentiment Survey held this view while 70% felt confident they could achieve their goals without professional advice.
Further, two thirds stated financial advisers would help them take advantage of emerging market opportunities, versus 50% that believe they would be able to do so alone.
Despite this, the survey did highlight a degree of reluctance among investors to commit to assets abroad. Reasons cited for avoiding foreign investments included a lack of local knowledge, the potential risk and the impact of exchange rates on returns.
This backs up research conducted by Legg Mason released earlier in the year which showed 79% of UK investors were yet to make a commitment to non-domestic opportunities, despite both being disappointed with current returns and stating that they wanted to build a globally diversified portfolio.
Home markets
When asked about domestic stock market growth, 60% stated they believed it was likely over the next 12 months. Considered on a regional level, however, the figures are much different; European investors are the least confident and Latin America-based investors the most. A breakdown of the results is shown in the graph.
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The survey also found investors are more dubious about their home markets than those of foreign countries, and 70% stated they believed foreign opportunities would supersede those at home over the next 10 years.
Asia is perceived to offer the best investment opportunities, with the largest proportion of fixed income and equities investors, 28% and 48% respectively, citing the region as the most attractive.
In terms of investment stategy, more than half of investors, 57%, intend to adopt a more conservative approach over the coming 12 months. On a regional level, European investors remain the most conservative with just 21% planning a more aggressive strategy compared to 39% of Latin America-based investors, and 51% of those in Hong Kong.
