Planner sentiment on the wane

Australian financial advisers appear to be sensing broader community negativity about the general outlook for the economy, according to the latest sentiment data released by Wealth Insights.

The data, a part of the Wealth Insights Adviser Sentiment Index and collected over the last few weeks of May and the first week of June, has revealed planner sentiment has slipped from the levels reached during the first quarter of the year when it climbed back to heights not seen since before the onset of the Global Financial Crisis.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Wealth Insights data indicated that investor/client sentiment had been less affected, with more investors feeling either somewhat confident or confident, with little or no change to their investing intentions from those indicated in the first quarter of the year.            

Commenting on the data, Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon said that while the decline in sentiment was comparatively small, it seemed to reflect the general erosion in confidence currently being exhibited across Australia.

She noted that planners/advisers seemed to be equally split between conditions being good or very good (49 per cent) or average or bad/very bad (51 per cent).

Where investor sentiment was concerned, McMahon noted that despite the improvement seen in the first quarter of 2013, the settings remained comparatively conservative, with most clients either staying put or investing a little into the markets.

She said that while planner sentiment had certainly declined from the heights reached at the beginning of the year, it still remained well above that of the same time last year - and in many respects was also reflecting the fortunes of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

McMahon said she expected that sentiment over the coming months would be influenced both by the Federal election and the tenor of economic news, as well as the fortunes of the ASX.