Planners remain optimistic
The optimism among financial planners which followed last year’s change of Government in Canberra has not significantly diminished over the ensuing months despite variable market conditions, according to the latest data collected by Wealth Insights.
The Adviser Sentiment Index data for February has revealed adviser sentiment to be at 50 points, just one point down from where it sat in November last year, but well up on the August 2013 result of 36 points and only a little lower than the 55-point high reached almost immediately after the September Federal election.
Significantly, too, more than half of those surveyed (55 per cent) described conditions in their businesses as “good or very good” with only 5 per cent declaring that they were “bad or very bad”. According to Wealth Insights managing director Vanessa McMahon, the adviser sentiment appears to solidly reflect the attitudes of their clients, with the data revealing investor confidence to be at some of its highest levels in recent years.
McMahon noted that 70 per cent of advisers had reported that investors were either 'confident’ or 'somewhat confident’ about investing in the markets, well up on the situation in July, last year. Further, that investor confidence appeared to be helping break down the so-called “wall of cash” that seemed to be a constant in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, with the tentative signs which were emerging in the latter months of 2013 becoming more tangible this year.
McMahon also pointed to the fact that 70 per cent of advisers responding to her company’s research had reported that their clients were currently 'investing a little’ or 'investing a lot’ in the markets, solidly up on the data collected in July, 2013.
Discussing the findings contained in the latest Index, McMahon said that the relative steadiness of the adviser sentiment index between September and February needed to be viewed in the context of the generally positive data on client and investor sentiment.
Importantly, it represented the longest period of sustained positivity since before the global financial crisis.
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