Survey: GenX Investors More Cautious, Still Optimistic

By Staff Writer

August 13, 2002 at 08:00 PM

Share & Print

NU Online News Service, Aug. 13, 10:39 a.m. – Investors between the ages of 23 and 35 may be more cautious than they were a year ago, but they still seem to be optimistic about their finances, according to results of a new survey by New York Life Investment Management L.L.C., Parsippany, N.J.

New York Life Investment, a unit of New York Life Insurance Company, recently had a research firm survey 530 U.S. residents born between 1967 and 1979.

The rules the researchers used to pick the participants might have skewed the results.

To fill out a survey, participants had to have at least $50,000 in investable assets. That minimum screened out some of the "Generation X" investors hit hardest by the recent market slump.

But researchers found that the GenX consumers eligible to participate this year expressed different attitudes about investing than participants polled for a similar survey conducted in early 2001.

Twenty-two percent of the GenXers who still have at least $50,000 in investable assets now describe themselves as "conservative" investors, up from 11% a year ago.

Only 20% of the GenX investors now describe themselves as "aggressive" investors, down from 36%.

But the remaining GenX investors say they have an average annual household income of $109,700 and an average net worth of $117,000. Only 38% say another economic downturn would have a meaningful effect on their lifestyle.

More than half believe that they are more knowledgeable about investing than their parents, and 69% still expect their standard of living in retirement to be greater than that of their parents.

NOT FOR REPRINT