August AAII Asset Allocation Survey: Stock Allocations Remain High

Individual investors’ asset allocations changed minimally last month according to the August AAII Asset Allocation Survey. Equity allocations remained at or above 70% for the sixth time this year while cash allocations declined further.

Stock and stock fund allocations increased by 0.1 percentage points to 71.2%. This is the 15th consecutive month AAII members’ exposure to equities is above the historical average of 61.0%.

Bond and bond fund allocations rose by 0.2 percentage points to 15.2%. Even with the increase, fixed-income exposure stayed below its historical average of 16.0% for the sixth consecutive month.

Cash allocations decreased by 0.2 percentage points to 13.7%. Cash allocations were last lower in January 2018 (13.0%). August is the 16th consecutive month that cash allocations are below their historical average of 23.0%.

Equity allocations remain at an unusually high level for the sixth consecutive month (more than one standard deviation above the historical average). The major equity indexes continued to set new record highs in August while interest rates remained low. Optimism in the weekly AAII Sentiment Survey ended August at a seven-week high.

• Stocks and Stock Funds: 71.2%, up 0.1 percentage points
• Bonds and Bond Funds: 15.2%, up 0.1 percentage points
• Cash: 13.7%, down 0.2 percentage points

• Stocks: 32.3%, up 0.0 percentage points
• Stocks Funds: 38.9%, up 0.1 percentage points
• Bonds: 2.4%, down 0.1 percentage points
• Bond Funds: 12.7%, up 0.3 percentage points

• Stocks/Stock Funds: 61.0%
• Bonds/Bond Funds: 16.0%
• Cash: 23.0%