The asset manager surveyed more than 15,700 “active” investors (i.e. those with €10,000 or equivalent they were planning to invest in 2014) from 23 different countries, asking about their confidence, investment intentions and strategy for the coming year and about any economic concerns they have.
Overall, the results marked a positive change in investor sentiment, with more than half (56%) of investors saying they are more confident about 2014 than they were at the start of 2013 and more than 70% saying they plan to invest in equities this year.
It should be noted the survey was conducted at the start of the year ahead of some market wobbles seen more recently following further tapering by the US Federal Reserve of its quantitative easing programme.
More confident than early 2013
In the UK, 64% of investors said they are more confident at the start of 2014 than they were at the beginning of 2013.
Despite this, only around two-fifths (39%) said they intend to increase the amount they will invest in the coming 12 months. Interestingly, the UK also had the highest number (17%) of investors of all 23 countries who said they lacked confidence in any asset class for the year ahead.
Investors in the UK were in line with the global average in terms of where they plan to invest this year, choosing Asia Pacific (inc. China and Japan), Western Europe (inc. UK) and North America (inc. US and Canada) as their top three.
It is also noteworthy that 67% of investors in the UK want to invest in equities this year with the most popular being UK equities (43%) and around one-in-eight selecting emerging market equities (13%) or Western European equities (12%).
Investor disconnect – intent vs action
However, while increased investor appetite is clearly a positive, Carlo Trabattoni, head of pan-European intermediary distribution at Schroders, offered a word of warning about a marked disconnect between investors’ intentions and their actions displayed by the survey.
This is demonstrated by the percentage of respondents who said they want to save for their retirement this year, 59%, yet have an investment horizon of just 4.5 years.
The UK was not alone in this, with investors across the world also displaying this trait.
“The approach needs to be guided, hence we believe in the need for clients to receive proper educated advice on how to manage their needs for the long term will become increasingly important,” said Trabattoni.
“On the other hand, you have to see there is still a degree of investment immaturity from an investor perspective when you have to conciliate objectives with actions. And, with the aging population, greater life expectancy and the scaling back of governments in terms of pensions forming the basis for what we are going to have to breathe for years, advice and education will only grow in importance.”
