What, the rich are worried?

Wealthy investors say this is no time to be buying a big screen TV, or to invest in the stock market. Somehow those two things are related in their minds to a poor economy.

The investment outlook by affluent investors, those with $100,000 or more in financial assets, is at an all-time low, according to Smith Barney. The Citigroup-owned brokerage says these investors have turned increasingly sour this year, as their attitudes about the investment climate have gone negative.

"Only one-quarter say the climate is better now than it was a year ago," the Smith Barney report says. Among those polled, 58% believe that the economy is in a slowdown, 12% say we're in a recession and 7% see the economy as going through an expansion.

Rich people are pretty dumb when it comes to their investments. A Northern Trust study, if you can believe anythinng from that sad excuse for a bank, conducted last year found rich people's expectations are unrealistic and "out of synch." They aren't diversified across asset classes and some believed they could earn as much as five percentage points above what is historically accurate. Not all are dumb, mind you. If polls and surveys are accurate, just the majority is stupid.

Smith Barney is quick to point out that its poll "does not reflect Citigroup Smith Barney predictions or recommendations."

Rich people, however, may be squawking amongst themselves because as a group their outlooks are trending down: now only 28% are positive about how the investment climate will be a year from now as opposed to 42% at the beginning of this year. In addition, 24% of investors think that the climate will be worse a year from now, compared with 18% of investors who believed that at the beginning of the year. The question remains, who’s been putting what in their morning latte?

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