Asian-Pacific Investors Take More Risk: Survey

Affluent U.S. investors of Asian-Pacific descent tend to be richer, better educated and more willing to take risk than other wealthy people, a new survey said.

Spectrem Group of Chicago said its survey of 3,300 affluent households -- those with at least $500,000 of “investable assets” -- found that those who described themselves as Asian-Pacific were “substantially more aggressive” investors than others.

For example, 19% of the Asian-Pacific wealthy said their most important financial goal was to “at least double my wealth during the next five years.” By contrast, 5% of other wealthy people had that goal.

The Asian-Pacific group had an average net worth of $2.93 million and investable assets of $1.54 million compared with $2.20 million and $1.40 million, respectively, for other investors. Asian-Pacific investors also had higher debt: Their average debt, including mortgages and credit cards, was $263,766 compared with $127,394 for other affluent households.