for all its downward dips so far this year the stock market may not scaring off many retail investors polling and purchase data suggest in fact their mood may arguably be more upbeat than some of the big institutional heavyweights as inflation stays red hot recession talk continues and everyone waits to see just how far the federal reserve will go to curb inflation one quarter 26 of people said the stock market is the best place to tuck away money they will not need to tap for a decade according to a new bankratecom survey however their top investment choice was real estate in the form of home ownership andor investment in the sector itself with 29 saying it was the optimal way to invest for the long run real estate has been survey respondents’ top investing choice for three of the last four years bankrate noted but the share of people favoring the stock market this year is notable because it’s up from 16 a year ago furthermore by the time people were talking to pollsters about preferred investment choices in midjune the sp 500 had veered into bear market territory technically a 20 pullback from a recent high people appear to be keeping the lessons of the pandemicinduced stock market drop and subsequent resurgence in 2020 at the front of their minds said greg mcbride bankrate’s chief financial analyst “we’re not seeing investors respond the way they typically have” by selling off and eyeing the exits in response to recent downturns mcbride said “and that’s a good thing this sentiment and behavior this year is much more consistent with the long perspective” in a poll earlier this year more than half of people 56 said they were purposely not making any different investment decisions this year in spite of the market volatility mcbride noted the latest bankrate data notes that for the people who dislike stocks as an investment option the chance for wild swings in value are the top reason why the polling aligns with other recent reads on investor mood almost two in 10 americans 18 viewed stocks and mutual funds as the best longterm investment according to a gallup poll in may that was second behind real estate which 45 of people deemed the best investment for the long run meanwhile more than half of charles schwab schw clients said they had a bearish view of the stock market during the second quarter according to a may survey yet 55 said they were not tweaking their risk exposure and just 9 said they were pulling cash out of their portfolio earlier this week schwab’s second quarter earnings noted clients opened 1 million new brokerage accounts in the second quarter still there are plenty of prominent people who take a dim view of the market’s immediate future and advise caution that includes thomas peterffy founder and chairman of interactive brokers ibkr  which offers brokerage services to retail and institutional investors “i’m personally bearish and i think the market is going to see new lows” said peterffy who’s one of the pioneers of computerized stock trading in his view there are still significant challenges ahead starting with high inflation that will stick around longer than the fed anticipates in this context peterffy said a wise move for a retail investor is avoiding too much exposure to stocks and keeping cash temporarily on the sidelines where it can at least reap more interest in a time of rising rates on wednesday the dow jones industrial average djia  sp 500 spx and the nasdaq composite comp all made gains building on a sharp tuesday bounce the question remains whether it’s just a bear market rally with more room to tumble or something different on thursday the benchmarks opened lower retail investors have been averaging 768 million in daily purchases of stock and exchange traded fund shares according to a wednesday note from vanda research that’s below a yeartodate daily purchase average of 123 billion researchers noted but they noted that could likely be a seasonal summer lull in trading activity not the sign of a white flag stock buying by one measure could still drop by another 8 “and still sit within historical ranges without representing much cause for concern” researchers wrote even in this rocky trading year the 123 billion daily purchase average is so far exceeding the 116 billion that investors averaged last year vanda’s data shows during the first quarter of 2021 which encompassed the meme stock frenzy surrounding companies like gamestop gme and amc amc  retail investors had an average 132 billion in daily stock and etf purchases vanda data showed what this all means for a person’s portfolio in the short and longer term is an open question for example the immediate pain now may transform into gains over the coming 12 months bernstein analysts say take a step back even more and the long term buyandhold over years is the best strategy investment experts say hopes of rising stock prices in the coming half year climbed to a sixweek high according to the latest read of an ongoing sentiment gauge from the american association of individual investors  but don’t get carried away the roughly 27 of investors anticipating stock price increases is still below the survey’s historical 38 average for bullish sentiment likewise the 465 of investors anticipating lower prices is still well above the 305 historical average for bearish mood the data showed