According to the research, more than 80% of the affluent investors age 35 to 64 have been negatively impacted by the current economic environment, with modest improvement evident since November 2011.

For the research, Phoenix surveyed individual investors aged 35 to 64, having US$100,000 or more in household income and investable assets, excluding 401(k) or similar employer-managed plans.

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The survey showed that 44% of affluent pre-retirees have been negatively impacted by the economic environment and that economic conditions have improved since November 2011 when 50% reported this sentiment.

Further, 35% to 22% respondent stated that the recession of 2008 had never really ended for them, while 56% to 44% said that America’s quality of life will be negatively affected by the recent financial crisis for the long-term.

"Perhaps more telling of how pre-retirees feel going into the fall Presidential election is that our study shows gains since last year in those who are optimistic that they will be able to retire when they had planned," (38% to 47%) John Duggan, Phoenix VP for sales & marketing remarked.

"Further, our findings show the consequence of investor perception of an improved economic climate translates very quickly to a shift in investment strategy anticipated in the next six months. Specifically, fewer pre-retirees now plan to hold steady/make no changes (31% to 24%) or to increase the rate of personal savings (32% to 26%)," added Duggan.

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The research has further shown that local community bank (47%) and mutual funds (25%) are top-tier among affluent pre-retirees, while least trusted financial institutions for these investors include credit card companies (11%) and large national banks (13%).