--- title: Stocks Are at All-Time Highs. So Why Are Americans Afraid to Invest? description: Only 1 in 4 Americans think now is a good time to invest as recession fears rise despite record stock prices. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 354 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology editors: - name: Katherine Peach role: Associate Editor url: https://money.com/author/katherine-peach/ bio: Katherine Peach is an associate editor with a focus on news and email at Money. She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!) Katherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others. Katherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. education: University of Maryland, Baltimore County at_money_since: 2025 articles: 14 covers: - Investing - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes published: '2026-07-02T12:30:38.000Z' section: Investing tags: - Investing - News word_count: 595 canonical: https://money.com/investors-fear-stock-market/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Collage of money graph](https://img.money.com/2026/06/News-invest-goodtime.jpg) A new survey of investors found that, despite sky-high market valuations, Americans are decidedly leery about putting their money into the stock market right now. Only 1 in 4 consider the current environment a good time to invest — a whopping drop of nine percentage points from the 34% who said the same just three months earlier. The [survey](https://www.allianzlife.com/about/newsroom/2026-Press-Releases/Retirement-Tax-Worries-on-the-Rise-Among-Americans), conducted by the Allianz Center for the Future of Retirement, also found that nearly 2 in 3 respondents told surveyors they expect a major recession in the near future. The last time investor sentiment was this downbeat was four years ago, when the stock and bond markets were tumbling simultaneously in response to inflation that had spiked to four-decade highs. By comparison, today’s economy is expanding. The unemployment rate is low, and interest rates, while higher than their pandemic-era trough, remain below the historical average. While inflation remains elevated, consumer spending continues to chug along. “I don’t know when I've seen numbers this skewed before,” says Kelly LaVigne, vice president of consumer insights at Allianz Life. The seeming contradiction between high-flying asset prices and anxious investors comes down to a fear of volatility and an expectation that the broader economy is overdue for a reversal. Half of survey respondents said they have already changed their [investments](https://content.money.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6024051&action=edit) in a bid to make them less vulnerable to loss in the event of a downturn. That’s probably a mistake, says Scott Cole, founder and president of Cole Financial Planning and Wealth Management. “There’s a reason why \[stocks\] are hitting highs. You really should not be afraid of that,” he advises. But he adds that the impulse is understandable: “I think there is a human instinct to think that it’s not going to go on forever.” ## Wall Street wealth confronts Main Street woes All of the headlines about AI fueling a bubble and triggering layoffs have made Americans [skeptical](https://money.com/stock-market-highs-investors-bearish/) about the market’s buoyancy, Cole says. What’s more, boom times on Wall Street don’t reflect the reality of high grocery and gas prices pinching household budgets. “That disconnect makes people think that… therefore, it must be a house of cards,” he observes. “Fear is the common denominator,” says Rick Kahler, founder of Kahler Financial Group and a certified financial therapist. “This market will decline and a recession will happen; we just don’t know when,” he writes in an email to Money. A period of volatility is a good opportunity to reflect on your goals and reassess your allocation to make sure it still supports those goals, Kahler advises. “For those who are legitimately rethinking their permanent risk exposure due to their overall financial planning goals, this would be a great time to reduce market exposure,” he says. People hoping to [retire](https://content.money.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6024051&action=edit) soon or on fixed incomes should be especially sure to have some assets that aren’t exposed to stocks’ volatility. “If you're going to need some liquidity in the next year or two, that shouldn't be in the market anyway,” Cole says. Keeping part of your portfolio in instruments like CDs or Treasurys will decrease the likelihood that you’ll have to liquidate portfolio positions at a loss. But for younger investors, [staying the course](https://money.com/sell-in-may-stock-market-2026/) is the way to go. “Timing market tops and bottoms rarely works out in the long run,” Kahler points out. Even financial pros have a shaky track record when it comes to calling peaks and troughs, which is why a long-term plan that takes volatility into account is so important. “Try to ignore both the rhetoric and your feelings,” Cole says. “\[This\] is why investing is hard.” ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/investors-fear-stock-market/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Investors", "item": "https://money.com/investors/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Stocks Are at All-Time Highs. 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She didn’t always intend to write about money. She’s a classically trained pianist who dreamed of becoming an archaeologist. However, in 2007 Katherine began working in financial publishing as an editor for Agora Inc. (Apparently, unearthing ideas about improving your personal finances isn’t such a bad career alternative!)\r\n\r\nKatherine’s writing and editing work has been featured in Investing Daily, Clever, Investor Junkie, The Palm Beach Letter, Truth & Plenty, Independence Monthly, NICHE, AmericanStyle, AntiqueWeek, Millennial Money, Money Done Right, TheStreet, Sure Dividend and many others.\r\n\r\nKatherine holds a Bachelor of Arts in Ancient Studies with concentrations in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and a minor in Literature from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. 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