Planner sentiment on the rise

Financial planner sentiment is climbing back towards the positive levels that prevailed before the global financial crisis, according to new research released by specialist financial services research house Wealth Insights.

The data, collected by surveying financial planners during February, reveals that financial planner sentiment reached its nadir in Australia in February last year. It began its descent amid the grim news associated with the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US, the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the flow-on effects for the Australian economy.

Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon said the survey outcomes over the two-year period between February 2008 and February 2010 told their own story about how Australian financial planners were affected and how they felt about it.

Importantly, the recovery in sentiment among financial planners experienced a correction in January, before resuming its growth in February — something McMahon attributed to the downturn in equity markets at the time.

The Wealth Insights survey reveals that while planner sentiment has not yet reached the heights that existed in late 2007, significant numbers of planners regard times as being ‘good’ or ‘very good’ right now.

The data reveals that 44 per cent of the planners surveyed believe times were ‘good’ or ‘very good’, while 49 per cent regard times as being ‘average’.

Only 6 per cent of respondents held negative views about their existing circumstances, with 5 per cent describing times as being ‘bad’ and only 1 per cent regarding things as being ‘very bad’.

This compares to the same survey conducted in February 2009, when 48 per cent described times as being ‘bad’ or ‘very bad’, 40 per cent described them as ‘average’ and only 12 per cent regarded times as being ‘good’ or ‘very good’.