Canadians optimistic about their investments despite uncertainty ...

The TSX?s performance might be terrible and the global economic outlook lousy, but Canadians are still generally optimistic about their personal investments, a new TD survey found.

About half the investors polled by TD said they expect their investments to remain the same over the next 12 months, while 41% said they expect them to improve. Of those who saw a positive return from their portfolio in the past year, that number was even higher, with 65% expecting improvement.

The question, however, is what kind of return those investors will actually get. If they?re primarily invested in Canadian stocks, for instance, the outlook might sour a little. The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% year to date, and has posted crummy annual returns in the last two years.

In the U.S., the S&P 500 return is more than 14% so far this year.

?While there is no escaping some degree of market volatility, investors can still find value and good returns with a balanced portfolio,? said Bob Gorman, chief portfolio strategist at TD Wealth. ?We expect Canadian stocks and U.S. large caps to continue delivering positive returns over the balance of 2013, while companies with steady increases in sales, earnings and dividends outperform the more volatile resource sectors.?

The TD survey also found Canadian investors are fairly optimistic about economic improvement in Canada and the U.S. over the next 12 months.

Slightly more than one-quarter (26%) of those surveyed said they expect improvement in the Canadian economy during the next 12 months, while 27% said they expect improvement in the U.S. economy. Half expect the Canadian economy to remain the same, while 41% expect that to be the case for the U.S.

Where the outlook gets a little less rosy, however, is the global economy. Only 10% of Canadian investors expect a global economic improvement, while 42% said they expect it to get worse and 43% said they see no change.

The survey, called the TD Investor Insights Index, polled more than 1,000 investors who had bought or sold investments in the past 12 months, and who also held at least one investment?product. As part of the survey, TD released an infographic of all of the data, which you can find here.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/06/17/canadians-optimistic-about-their-investments-despite-uncertainty/

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