Declining Number of Adult Stock and Bond Traders Surprises Analyst The new data is included in The Media Audit survey produced by International Demographics shows that the percentage of
adults in all 85 measured markets who traded stocks or bonds was 23.6 percent in 1998. That percentage climbed to 24.3 in 1999 and to 25.7 in 2000. From that pinnacle it fell to 23.1 in 2001, 2l.1 in
2002, and 18.2 in 2003.
"...we were surprised that the numbers continued to trend down significantly through 2003, which was a very good year to be in the stock market," says Bob Jordan,
president of International Demographics.
The decline in stock trading was significant among all income groups. The percent of those with incomes of $100,000 plus who traded in the year of the
survey declined from 53.2 percent in 2000 to 49.4 percent in 2001, 44.4 percent in 2002 and to 37.9 percent in 2003. Even among those with liquid assets of $250,000 or more the number who traded
stocks during the year of the survey declined from 6.3 million in 2000 to 6.0 million in 2001 and to 5.3 million in 2002.
The 45-64 age group age group consistently contains the highest
percentage of those who trade. The per cent of this group that traded during the year surveyed rose from 23.9 in 1994 to 30.9 in 2000. From that pinnacle it declined to 28.3 in 2001, 26.1 in 2002 and
22.9 in 2003, according to Jordan.
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