Consumers unable to separate bonds from equities

A study commissioned by Invesco Perpetual indicates despite the fact total net retail sales of bonds and equities exceeded £4bn by the end of October 2005, the majority of investors who do hold investments may not be clear on what asset class they have invested in, as 77% of investors surveyed do not know the difference between bonds and equities. According to the study of 963 consumers conducted by GfK NOP in August 2005, two-thirds (65%) of investors surveyed could not correctly identify the definition of an equity while 68% couldn’t identify the definition of a bond – even when they wer...