Most Recent Tracking Study

ARRC has conducted a twice-yearly tracking study of the affluent market since the Spring of 2002. This series of surveys gives us a good base of historical data that has been developed during various periods of consumer optimism as well as during periods of economic distress.

These surveys measure and track how the affluent assess current business conditions and their 12-month outlook for the economy, the stock market, and their personal household earnings. The surveys also monitor the anticipated changes in spending for a variety of different products and services, changes in expected rates of saving, and primary investment objectives. In addition, each survey contains special questions exploring new topics.

The surveys are conducted in March and September among the wealthiest 10% of US households, based on net worth. To be included in the survey results, a respondent must have a minimum $800,000 net worth. There are approximately 11.4 million such households in the U.S. that represent about a third of total gross domestic product.

Our data source for the net worth of U.S. households is the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) conducted every 3 years by the Federal Reserve Board. We believe this is the best available research on the distribution of wealth in the US.

Because we receive a disproportionate number of responses from those qualifying as the wealthiest 5% and the wealthiest 1%, we weight the responses to be representative of the wealthiest 10% of US households. The maximum margin of error of this survey, at 95% confidence, is five percentage points.