Americans still skittish about investing post crisis, despite bull market

In the last decade, the S&P 500 has rallied 200 percent, yet many Americans are less willing to invest in the market than they were before 2008.

Roughly three quarters of Americans, or 74 percent, said their financial habits have changed as a result of the financial fallout and Great Recession, according to a new survey by NerdWallet.

Nearly half of those polled said they are more cautious about their spending overall — 38 percent said they avoid debt as much as possible, one quarter said they have limited the number of credit cards they have as a result of the financial crisis and 7 percent said they no longer invest in the stock market.

The personal finance website polled more than 2,000 adults in September.