Money should be in safe, it doesn't matter if the interest is low

Investing safely with the goal of moderate returns is a priority for about eight of every 10 Europeans, Americans take more risk.

According to a new survey, conducted in 14 countries by GfK Custom Research Worldwide for The Wall Street Journal Europe, about a quarter of the Western, Central and Eastern European respondents said they would prefer to put any newfound wealth in bank deposits. In addition, bonds and bond- or cash-based investment funds were the choice of about 14% of respondents across all of Europe.

Just 11% of Western Europeans said stock-based holdings would be the top choice for a hypothetical new investment. In Central and Eastern Europe, shares and share-based funds were the choice of 13% of respondents overall, down two percentage points from the previous survey.

On the main risk question, the survey found that a greater percentage of Western Europeans preferred investing safely for a moderate return than Central and Eastern Europeans, at 82% compared with 77%. The survey found that respondents in Central and Eastern Europe were willing to take more risk than counterparts in Western Europe, at 13% compared with 8%.

Countries with the strongest preference for safe investing were Austria and Italy, each at 92%. Spain had a large number of “difficult to say” answers, at more than three of every four.