- 65% say they are satisfied with their personal financial situation
- 51% say they are worried about the economic situation in Canada
MONTREAL, Feb. 18, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - Canadian investors are starting the year with a positive outlook about their personal financial situation according to the Standard Life Investor Confidence Index. Developed as an approach based on social values, the Standard Life Investor Confidence Index aims to better understand investors' confidence and satisfaction by asking them where their personal finance, investments and the overall economy fit into their broader life goals and concerns. This year, the Standard Life Investor Confidence Index shows that investors' overall confidence increased by 7 points from the Index baseline year of 2011.
"We want to understand what motivates investors, to get at the root of their hopes, aspirations and worries. Instead of asking about financial products and outcomes, we designed our questions based on the inputs that drive them to be more or less engaged with their finances," said Anna DelBalso, Associate Vice-President, Market and Business Intelligence. "Investors seem to have lingering concerns about the overall state of the economy, but they are quite satisfied with their own financial situation and acknowledge that they are primarily responsible for their retirement savings."
The Standard Life's Investor Confidence Index shows that Canadians are more satisfied with their personal financial situation (65%) and feel more secure about their employment situation (55%), compared to two years ago. When it comes to ensuring that they have sufficient savings to retire, three-quarters of them (76%) believe they play the most important role, followed by government authorities (56%), employers (52%) and financial institutions (39%).
"In spite of the many contradictory economic forecasts and predictions published over the last few weeks about how the Canadian economy will fare in 2014, several measures in the Standard Life Investor Confidence Index show improvement," said David MacDonald, Group Vice-President, Environics Research Group. "At the end of the day, although top-down modeling has a role in forecasting the economy, investors' collective actions have a big part to play in how it actually fares."
Mrs. DelBalso added: "Various research and data, in addition to our own, are showing encouraging signs. A subset of Canadians has already taken advantage of the market movements, but the vast majority is not there yet. While investors are satisfied with their own financial situation, most of them still seem concerned about the economy and more focused on protecting their capital rather than maximizing their investments. We believe they could be more proactive, speak with their advisors and choose investment vehicles to access the growth potential of the market."
Standard Life offers a comprehensive program to help investors better understand what's holding them back from investing for the long term. Canadians are invited to visit www.financial-inertia.com to learn more about the solutions available to them and to start the conversation with their advisor.
Notes to Editors
1. Fact Sheet
About the Standard Life Investor Confidence Index
In 2011, Standard Life developed an approach based on social values to better understand investors' confidence and satisfaction by asking them where their personal finance, investments and the overall economy fit into their broader life goals and concerns. Questions are built to understand the inputs that drive investors to be more or less engaged with their finance, instead of asking about financial products and outcomes.
The Standard Life Investor Confidence Index is based on the online answers of 1,501 Canadians, aged 18 years+, surveyed between October 20 and 24, 2013 by Environics Research Group.
About Standard Life
Standard Life provides long-term savings, investment and insurance solutions to more than 1.4 million Canadians, including group retirement and insurance plan members. Standard Life in Canada has been doing business for 180 years and has approximately 2,000 employees. It operates under Standard Life Financial Inc., which wholly owns The Standard Life Assurance Company of Canada and Standard Life Mutual Funds Ltd.
Standard Life Financial Inc. is the largest operation outside the United Kingdom of Standard Life plc, its parent company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland. Standard Life plc has around 6 million customers worldwide and operates in the UK, Canada, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and globally with Standard Life Investments Ltd.
Standard Life plc had $396 billion in assets under administration, including $46.1 billion in Canada through Standard Life Financial Inc. (at September 30, 2013).
SOURCE: Standard Life
Anne-Julie Gratton
External Communications and Public Affairs
514-499-7999 / 1-877-499-9555, ext. 8150
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