Aussies ‘overwhelmingly optimistic’ about financial future in 2023

Australian investors held a more positive outlook for the next 12 months compared to global peers, State Street Global Advisors’ ETF Impact Survey found.

In a survey of over 1,000 investors comparing attitudes in Australia to those in countries like the US, the UK, Singapore, Netherlands, and Japan, 78% of Australian investors were very optimistic about their financial future. 

They were also less stressed by the uncertainty of the volatile stockmarket as 76% believed it created buying opportunities compared to 68% globally.

Only 44% of Australians were worried about rising taxes, citing the recent Federal Budget, though there were concerns surrounding the country’s economic outlook.

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In comparison with global counterparts, financial confidence in Australia was high in meeting goals like buying a home, reducing or paying off student debts, and keeping up with current expenses. Interestingly, 100% of Australians surveyed were confident in being able to fund a start-up business compared to 66% globally.  

The big fear remained funding travel plans after almost three years of COVID-19 restrictions as just a third (33%) were confident of being able to do so compared to half globally.

Additional concerns were focused on the future as more than half of Australian investors were concerned with having enough money to last through their retirement years (66%) and in having enough money to meet future healthcare needs (54%). 

Still, when it came to investor behaviour, over half of Australian investors said they would maintain their long-term investment strategy in 2023. One in six Australian investors (16%) said they would invest more this year.

The ETF Impact Survey also explored Australians’ attitudes towards exchange traded funds (ETFs), which marked their 30th anniversary in America this year. It found 70% of Australian investors with an existing ETF holding report containing ETFs benefitted from improved overall performance of their portfolio. 

Still, Australian investors demonstrated more hesitance than global peers when it came to their views on ETFs as an investor-friendly investment product (46% vs 58% globally), whether they offered more liquidity to respond more rapidly to market changes (36% vs 52%), and whether they could mitigate risk better in volatile markets (34% vs 51%).

“The ETF industry as a whole has demonstrated its resilience throughout major market events ranging from the burst of the late 1990s dotcom bubble, to the global financial crisis of 2008 and, more recently, the extreme pandemic-era volatility,” observed Rory Tobin, head of State Street Global Advisors’ Global SPDR ETF business.