Long-Term Investors Predict Bull Run

March 19, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Long-term investors are more optimistic about the stock market's future and predict a return to a bull market by the fourth quarter.

That was one of the conclusions from the March 2002 ShareBuilder Report, which surveyed investor sentiment during the last six months of 2001.

According to the survey for ShareBuilder, an online brokerage company, 56% of those in the market for the long run, predict a stock market improvement in the next six months, compared to 39% of other investors.

The survey defined long-term investors as those who reject the notion that investing success requires market timing.

In line with that optimism, 18% of long-term investors increased their investments in equities during the second half of 2001. That compares with 11% of other investors.

The survey findings also show that:

nearly three out of four respondents didn’t change their investing style in the last six months of 2001,

about one in five long term investors described themselves as more conservative than they were six months ago, compared to 29% of all other investors, and

nearly 70% of all investors expressed a lack of confidence in the adequacy of their investment plan last year

ShareBuilder commissioned Taylor Nelson Sofres, a marketing research firm, to survey 1,303 people online early this year.

«