Clients still confident in advisers – Lifeplan ICFS index

Recent share market volatility has only had a slight impact on client perceptions of their advisers’ abilities, according to a new South Australian survey.

The Lifeplan ICFS Financial Advice Satisfaction Index has revealed only a small decrease from its baseline measure of 75 to 74.3 during the past six months.

The index is compiled by the University of Adelaide’s International Centre for Financial Services (ICFS) and looks at the three attributes that most impact on a person’s advocacy of their financial planner.

These attributes are trustworthiness of the planner, clients’ perception of how their investments have performed and the technical abilities of the planner.

The survey, conducted every six months, found that young investors with less than $50,000 invested have more concerns about the performance of their financial planner.

Lifeplan general manager of strategic development Matt Walsh said older investors rated trust in their adviser higher during this period.

“It is pleasing to note that older investors with more funds to invest actually registered slight increases in the ratings for their advisers in the areas of trust, performance perception and technical ability despite the volatility in the market during the past six months,” he said.

“There is also an opportunity right now for advisers to build a younger client base of people who have smaller sums to invest, with the long-term view that these clients will be their high-net-worth clients of the future.

“With some focus on frequency of personal interaction and careful attention to the changing needs of this market, advocacy could be increased significantly.”

The index is designed to help financial planners maintain their current client relationships and build their client base by knowing what people are looking for from their planner.

Other findings in the latest index are that Australian investors hold their adviser in high regard, and this increases the longer the relationship.

Walsh said the technical ability of the adviser was the main reasons for using a particular adviser.

“The index offers useful insight into how investors perceive their financial adviser,” Walsh said

“It is not a mystery shopping exercise nor is it a survey of what the public think of planners generally.

“We are getting under the skin of the actual relationships that clients and planners have and measuring how that varies over time and under what influences, which is of immense value for the industry.”

The survey for the index was conducted last month and interviewed 400 investors from around Australia.