Researchers Find Investor Risk Tolerance Levels Unchanged Despite Market Volatility

Researchers found little change in actual investor risk tolerance levels during the pandemic, and an increased need for investor educational opportunities, particularly among minority communities.

In the two companion research studies by the FINRA Investment Education Foundation and the University of Chicago's NORC Center (see here and here), researchers also found that survey "respondents reported low levels of confidence in the fairness of financial markets." In a report on African-American and Hispanic/Latino Responses to Pandemic-Related Volatility in the Stock Market, the researchers conclude that "there may be differential effects among African-American and Hispanic/Latino communities." Researchers said that while these communities expressed "less optimistic recovery timelines and more uncertainty around how the stock market generally, and their personal portfolio values, might recover . . . respondents with taxable accounts and those with high investment knowledge were twice as likely as white respondents to report increased interest in investing in the wake of pandemic-related market volatility."