NEW YORK (Bloomberg) — A record high percentage of US millionaires are confused about how to invest their money and more are finding the answer may be in stocks and bonds, according to a survey released this week.

Half of respondents with a net worth of at least $1 million, excluding primary residences, said they didn't know what the best way to invest their money was during the US recession, based on Phoenix Cos. online survey of 1,735 individuals in January and February. That percentage is the highest since the survey was first conducted in 2000.

The number of people surveyed who plan on purchasing stocks in the next three years increased to 34 percent from 28 percent a year earlier, the Hartford, Connecticut-based insurer said in a statement. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they will buy bonds compared with 17 percent last year.

"Even though they are confused now, millionaires are assuming things will return to how they were in the next three years," said Walter Zultowski, senior vice-president of research and concept development at Phoenix.

Investor confidence in financial markets may be returning after the US government and the Fed agreed to spend, lend or commit $12.8 trillion to end the longest recession since the Great Depression. Finance chiefs from the Group of Seven predicted in Washington on April 24 that the world economy will start to rebound later this year.

Pessimism about the US economy for the next one to two years among millionaires is at an all-time high since the question was first asked in 2001, Phoenix said. Almost one-third of respondents said the economy will remain in an economic slump for the next two years.

The number of millionaires who feel less wealthy increased to 74 percent this year compared with 47 percent last year, according to the survey.

Seventy-three percent of millionaires surveyed are getting advice from a professional adviser, compared with 67 percent a year earlier.