More bears than bulls: adviser sentiment survey
Continuing market volatility is taking its toll on financial planner sentiment, with planners now more pessimistic than they were in January and February, according to the latest data released by Wealth Insights.
Wealth Insights data reported by Money Management in late February suggested that planners remained optimistic about the outlook for their own businesses despite expecting that their clients would suffer from falling investment returns.
Indeed, the data published in February found that 78 per cent of planners described things as being good or very good compared with more than 90 per cent during the same period in 2007.
However, just over two months later the Wealth Insights Research on Adviser Sentiment has revealed a changing mood in the financial planning industry, with just 43 per cent of respondents believing things would be either good or very good, 45 per cent believing things would be average and 12 per cent thinking things would be bad.
The erosion of sentiment appears to have also infected planners’ views of how things will be within their businesses.
In January and February more than 50 per cent of respondents believed that their businesses were likely to be better or much better off over the next few months, whereas in April that figure had declined to 41 per cent.
Notwithstanding this decline in sentiment, planners seem optimistic about the long-term future of their industry with little or no change in the numbers suggesting that things would be mostly good over the next five years.
The Wealth Insights data suggested that in April 61 per cent of respondents believed things would be mostly good over the next five years, while 6 per cent believed things would be continuously good.
Recommended for you
A new report from the Financial Services Council has detailed what advisers value the most from their licensee, as well as the time and cost savings from being part of an AFSL.
Receiving advice and guidance has been identified as a factor making up a successful retail investment system. Vanguard has shared policy recommendations to ensure greater advice accessibility.
The pressure is on for technology providers as Investment Trends’ latest industry report reveals advisers are consolidating their platform use, directing the majority of funds to just one primary platform.
DASH Technology Group has announced a suite of enhancements for its core platform technology to better support advisers and the growing wholesale investment market.