How realistic are global investors' return expectations?

An annual investor study has revealed concerning attitudes to risk, key threats to retirement portfolios, and a potential fallout from the increasing use of alternative assets.

Optimism was the dominant theme in the Natixis Global Investor Survey, which analyses investors' outlook for the rest of 2015. Around 80% of the 7,000 global investors the group surveyed said they expected their investments to perform just as well, if not better, in the year ahead, with equity markets likely to be the top performer. In the UK, this figure was 84% (see chart 1). However, underneath the positive façade, the survey also showed this investor optimism may be leading to unrealistic expectations, especially as most investors struggle with volatility, risk and the safety of thei...