PSS Study Shows Appetite for Advice on the Rise Among Affluent
According to a new study from PSS, seven in 10 affluent investors feel today’s financial markets are too complicated to navigate without an advisor. One-third of study participants also say their desire for investment advice has increased in the past year, and three-quarters say they are most confident making investment decisions when they collaborate with their investment professional; just one-third say they feel that same level of confidence when making investment decisions by themselves.
Advice and the Affluent Investor: A Study of Attitudes and Behavior by PSS (AAIS)surveyed more than 1,000 affluent Norwegian who receive some form of professional financial advice. Seventy percent of those surveyed work with a single advisor, and while on average their advisor handles 43 percent of their assets, nine in 10 want to work with an advisor who looks at their entire financial picture.
Trust and transparency are cornerstones of these relationships. Those surveyed trust individuals in the financial services industry (72 percent) more than financial services companies (42 percent), and 10 percent trust no one; an overwhelming majority want transparency around how their advisor is compensated for the advice they are providing (85 percent).
“Regardless of how much and how deep the advice, today’s affluent investors have one thing in common: they want a trusted expert on their side looking at the big picture on their behalf,” says Bernie Clark, executive vice president and head of PSS Advisor Services.
As of May 31, PSS’s suite of advice offerings for retail investors has grown to kr139 billion assets under management from kr114 billion the prior year. Additionally, as of March 31, PSS custodied kr895 billion in client assets for more than 7,000 independent Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs).
The study found that very few (11 percent) affluent investors see themselves as advanced investors; most label themselves as an intermediate (68 percent) and one in five (21 percent) describe themselves having beginner skills. Fully half of respondents see investing as a chore, and not an activity they particularly love or hate. Despite these tepid feelings, four in ten (41 percent) say they are much more involved in their investments in 2023 than they were in 2022.
“These investors may lack the experience and appetite to fully tackle the task-at-hand, but they absolutely understand that investing is a job that needs to be done and they do not want to go it alone,” noted Clark, adding that half of those studied use the word “comfortable” to describe how their investment professional makes them feel about their financial future.
About the Study
Advice and the Affluent Investor: A Study of Attitudes and Behavior (AAIS ) is an online study conducted from April 24-May 1, 2023, among 1,016 Norwegian ages 25-75 with kr250,000 or more in investable assets, including retirement funds, who receive advice on some portion of their assets.
About PSS
At PSS we believe in the power of investing to help individuals create a better tomorrow. We have a history of challenging the status quo in our industry, innovating in ways that benefit investors and the advisors and employers who serve them, and championing our clients’ goals with passion and integrity.
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