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SIPC/IPT Investor Survival Skills Survey: An Examination of Investor Knowledge and Behavior
The vast majority of American investors do not appear to possess the basic “investor survival skills” needed to build their savings into a retirement nest egg. A Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)/Investor Protection Trust (IPT) survey conducted by Opinion Research Corporation (ORC) gauged the knowledge and behavior of investors who either managed their own accounts or rely upon financial professionals to do so. The survey was release on December 13, 2005.
- December 13, 2005 Press Release
- View Full Survey Report
- Survival Skills Online Quiz
- “Stupid Is As Stupid Does: What Investors Don’t Know Is Definitely Hurting Them” — December 20, 2005 article by Thomas Kostigen, reprinted from MarketWatch
- Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)
Selected survey highlights:
- More than four out of five investors (83 percent) failed the SIPC/IPT test of key knowledge and behavior. Only 17 percent of respondents correctly answered a sufficient number of questions on knowledge (six out of eight questions) and behavior (three out of four questions).
- Fewer than one in 10 investors (8%) understand that NO agency or organization “insures you against losing money as the result of fraud in your investment portfolio.”
- Only slightly more than a third (36%) of investors has checked out the disciplinary backgrounds of their stockbroker and or financial planner. Seven out of 10 those who did not check out their financial planner’s background indicated that they did so either because they trusted the individual in question (61%) or the individual had assured them that there was nothing to be concerned about (9%).