Answer: 52% which matches a record low over the past 17 years

Hat tip to Big Picture Blog for featuring this Gallup poll:

I thought it would be interesting to line this chart up with the performance of the S&P500 over a similar time period (it doesn’t match perfectly):

Questions for your students:

• How did investors react to the sharp pullbacks in ’00-’03 and ’08-’09? Did they react in the same manner for both of these periods?
• Have investors returned to the stock market since the bull market began in 2009 (the market is up 190%)?  Why do you think they reacted in this way?
• Do you plan on owning stocks? Why or why not?

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Check out this NGPF Project: Why Don’t People Invest?

• In this Common Core aligned project, students read articles about Americans not investing in the market, develop interview questions to ask their acquaintances, and then write their own article about their findings.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.