Investors optimistic about returns
Australian investors expect the All Ordinaries index to return 8 per cent over the next 12 months, according to an Investment Trends Survey.
The online survey of 844 investors, conducted in February, also found that levels of concern are at a 41-month low.
Investment Trends' Recep Peker said concern levels, which are measured on a one-to-10 scale, were sitting at 5.9 for February.
"That's come down a lot over the last year. At the end of 2011 it was up all the way at 7.4, which is where it was at the depths of the financial crisis," he said.
While concern levels have been steadily falling over the last year, it was only in January that they started translating into higher return expectations.
"Before January [return expectations for the next 12 months] were hovering around the 4-5 per cent mark. In January that went up to 7 per cent," Peker said.
But there are still massive amounts of cash being held by the clients of financial advisers, he added.
"The average planner estimates across their client base that there is $5.4 million sitting in excess cash - money they would normally have invested in growth assets but haven't because of all the volatility," said Peker.
"That $5.4 million number is up from $3.9 million in 2011 and $3.2 million in 2010," he added.
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