76% of Americans Not More Inclined to Invest in Stocks Despite Wall Street's Record Highs and Low Interest Rates

NEW YORK, April 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Despite recent stock market highs, individual investors remain very risk-averse. More than three in four Americans (76%) say they are not more inclined to invest in the stock market with interest rates on savings accounts and CDs at record lows, according to new research from Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE). That is the same percentage Bankrate.com measured at this time last year. The percentage of people who are more inclined to invest in stocks increased slightly this year (to 22% from 18%), but that is a negligible change considering the poll's 3.7% margin of error.

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"Although the Fed is trying to push investors into riskier assets in pursuit of better returns, individual investors aren't biting," said Greg McBride, CFA, Bankrate.com's senior financial analyst.

Bankrate.com also announced its latest Financial Security Index results. The Index dipped from 101.5 in March to 100.4 in April, but still indicates that consumers are feeling better about their financial security relative to 12 months ago (any figure above 100 illustrates improved financial security). This is only the fourth time in the 29 months since its inception that the Index has registered in positive territory.

"Even disappointing job growth in March wasn't enough to shake Americans' upbeat feelings of financial security relative to one year ago," McBride added.

Americans feel less secure than last year in only one of the Financial Security Index's five components: savings. Those who feel less comfortable with their current savings outnumber those who feel more comfortable by a ratio of greater than two to one.

Consumers feel they have progressed over the past year in each of the other four components: job security, debt, net worth and overall financial situation. Sentiment regarding savings, debt, net worth and overall financial situation remains correlated with income. Lower-income households possess the most downbeat levels of security while higher-income households are either the most likely to be upbeat or the least likely to be negative. Not surprisingly, lower-income households are also the least inclined to invest in the stock market due to low interest rates.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/consumer-index/financial-security-charts-0413.aspx

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,003 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (500) and cell phone (503, including 229 without a landline phone) in English by Princeton Data Source from April 4-7, 2013. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

About Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator, and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, our flagship website, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including CreditCards.com, Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, Nationwide Card Services, InsuranceQuotes.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, InsureMe, Bankrate.com.cn, CreditCards.ca, NetQuote.com, and CD.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of nearly 600 local markets in all 50 U.S. states, Bankrate generates over 172,000 distinct rate tables capturing on average over three million pieces of information daily. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 80 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, AOL, CNBC, and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Boston Globe.

For more information:

Ted Rossman
Public Relations Manager, Bankrate, Inc.
[email protected]
(917) 368-8635

SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.