Only 29% of Households Willing to Take Financial Risk, Down From 36% in 2008

We came across an interesting chart and study from the Investment Company Institute today:

US mutual fund-owning households became less tolerant of investment risk in the three years since the financial crisis in 2008, according to a newly updated ICI annual survey of households.  Twenty-nine percent of mutual fund-owning households were willing to take substantial or above-average risk for financial gain in May 2011, about the same as May 2009 and May 2010, and down from thirty-six percent in May 2008.