Spectrem Group announced that its Affluent Investor Index gained four points in January to return to mildly bullish territory for the first time since February 2005.

The index, which measures the investment outlook of households with US$500,000 or more in investable assets, had been neutral for all but one month in 2005, falling to an all-time low in October. Since then, however, it has moved consistently higher. During the three months since its historic low, the index has advanced a total of 18 points and now stands at its highest point since December 2004.

The Spectrem Millionaire Index also recorded its third-consecutive advance in January. The index saw its third-straight mildly bullish month. It now stands at its highest level since June 2004 and is within three points of its all-time high of 25, which it last achieved in April 2004.

“Affluent investors have finally returned to a mildly bullish outlook, after spending almost all of last year languishing in neutral territory. While this is certainly positive news on its face, it is stronger still given the impressive surge our affluent index has made since late last year,” said George Walper Jr., president of Spectrem Group. “After hitting an all-time low in October 2005, the index has risen each of the past three months, climbing in January to its highest level since December 2004. This coincides with strong improvement among millionaires. Without concerns about surging oil and gas prices holding them back, the nation’s wealthiest individuals and families clearly hold a fairly positive view of the investing environment.”

In response to an open-ended question about the factor most impacting their investment plans, affluent investors cited: the economic environment (13%), stock market conditions (12%), household cash flow (9%), low investment returns (6%), retirement (5%), household income (4%), jobs/job security (4%) and housing and real estate (3%). When this same question was last asked in October 2005, the top responses came in the same order: the economic environment (20%), stock market conditions (16%) and household cash flow (8%).

Millionaires expressed identical concern about the economy in January with 13% also citing it as the No. 1 factor impacting their investment plans. Next for millionaires were: stock market conditions (10%), low investment returns (8%) and retirement (8%).

The Spectrem Affluent Investor Index is based on 250, 10-minute telephone interviews each month, giving the data a margin of error of plus or minus 6.2 percentage points. Interviews are conducted with the financial decision-makers in households with US$500,000 or more in investable assets. The Millionaire Index is based on a subset of the overall survey group that can vary each month.