Strongly performing financial markets, increased education and stronger enforcement are being credited with a rise in investor confidence.
Strongly performing financial markets were a factor in increased investor confidence, the survey said Photo: 123RF
A [ https://fma.govt.nz/assets/Reports/170529-FMA-2017-Investor-Confidence-Survey.pdf
survey (pdf)] conducted for the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) found 65 percent of those polled were confident to some degree in financial markets, compared with last year's survey level of 56 percent.
As a net measure - the difference between the optimists and and the pessimists - confidence was 43 percent, the highest level in the survey's five year history, compared with 27 percent in the previous survey.
FMA chief executive Rob Everett said investors seemed to have discounted the turbulence caused by such issues as Brexit and other political events.
"There are signs that there's a bit more resilience creeping into the confidence scores, particularly those with more sophisticated range of investments who are to take a longer term view and I think that's a healthy development."
One in five surveyed were not confident, and Mr Everett said the FMA would work to educate and build confidence although there would always be some people who would never be comfortable with investment markets.
The most confident investors were males, living in Auckland with famly incomes of at least $100,000, typically with superannuation arrangements that were not KiwiSaver schemes.
Among the least confident were KiwiSaver investors.
"For some people KiwiSaver is the first experience of markets and investments ... so the work we're doing with providers to engage with KiwiSaver members is really critical, so we're going to continue leaning on providers to make sure they reach out to their members."
The most favoured investment was residential property.