UBS Investor Watch report says 77 percent of millennials responded that becoming a business owner is too risky. 

The survey was taken from Dec. 13, 2017 to Jan. 2, 2018 and was released in February this year. The survey reveals that millennials love the thought of having their own business because of the independence it brings but are apprehensive of the stress, possible failures and the risks that come with it. Most would prefer to pursue a professional career as they believe it is an easier path.

"Many millennials joined the workforce in a tough job market, whether it was during the dot.com bubble burst of 2000 or the Great Recession of 2008,"  Sameer Aurora, head of client strategy for UBS Global Wealth Management, said. “These factors likely contribute to a more conservative outlook when it comes to business risk and can prompt many millennials to seek job security in larger corporations as opposed to start-ups."

Although almost half of the wealthy investors see that being an entrepreneur is now one of the most prestigious career paths, there are business owners, who are mostly baby boomers, who say their potential heirs lack the interest of assuming the business. Their possible successors would most likely choose to inherit the assets than the business itself.   

On the other hand, there are also business owners who fear that their heirs will take the business in a different direction, different from the legacy they built.

Forty-one percent of business owners see themselves exiting their business in the next five years, and half of these are planning to sell.

"Small businesses are experiencing an important shift," Paula Polito, client strategy officer of UBS Global Wealth Management, said. "Most owners are choosing to sell instead of passing businesses to the next generation to fill their shoes."

This report is the 22nd edition of UBS Investor watch in which they surveyed 2,245 high net worth investors and included qualitative follow up interviews with 90 survey respondents.