The latest version of Spectrem Group’s Affluent Investor Index returned to mildly bullish territory in February.

The index, which measures the investment outlook of U.S. households with US$500,000 or more in investable assets, reversed its January decline into neutral territory with February’s advance. The index stood at a neutral level in January, but was mildly bullish in December 2004. For the five months before that, the index was neutral.

The Spectrem Millionaire Index, meanwhile, has been quite consistent since late 2004. In February, it rose slightly, marking its fifth straight month as mildly bullish.

In response to an open-ended question about the news events driving their economic outlook, affluent investors cited the Iraq war (20%), social security (12%), the deficit (8%) and increasing oil and gas prices (6%) as their top concerns. Interest rate increases (4%), market conditions (2%) and the economy (2%) were next in the polling. For millionaires, the top issues were the Iraq war (19%), the deficit (12%), social security (8%) and interest rate increases (8%).

“With the presidential election now behind them, affluent investors have turned their attention to social security – an issue that ranked behind only the Iraq war in its impact on their economic outlook. This comes in sharp contrast to November 2004, when social security barely moved the needle in our polling. Combined with the affluent index’s return to mildly bullish territory in February, this suggests that affluent investors are beginning to consider more long-term issues as they ponder new investments,” said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem Group.

The index is based on 250 10-minute telephone interviews each month with the financial decisionmakers in households with $500,000 or more in investable assets.