As part of a new global poll which asked those with investible assets of £1m-plus whether they intend to invest more in the first six months of 2016, 76% said “yes”.

The poll, which surveyed 767 people from countries including the UK, US, United Arab Emirates, South Africa and more, found that 14% said “no” and 10% said they didn’t know yet.

Conducted by financial advisory firm deVere, the founder and chief executive said high-net-worth individuals now have a “strong appetite” to use the cash they have held in reserve to top-up and diversify their investment portfolios.

Nigel Green said: “The survey overwhelmingly demonstrates that they are aware of the opportunities to buy high quality equities at the prices they want to pay. They are seeing more favourable choices to boost their portfolios for the longer-term.

“It is a sound investment strategy to put new cash to use in the market whilst prices are relatively low. Capitalising like this on the attractive long-term performance of stock markets is a time-honoured way that investors can successfully build wealth.”

He added that while no-one can predict exactly what the markets will do in the immediate future, high-net-worth investors believe it’s close to the bottom leaving them with major buying opportunities. “They are moving away from a preservation approach by diversifying their investment portfolios.  As shown by decades of financial market data, this is the correct approach to risk management.”