Given today’s rough economic times and volatile markets, more investors are looking for a financial advisor that can provide added value for them to meet their financial goals.
Only 57 percent of investors surveyed say their financial advisors proved their worth by navigating recent market conditions, according to Fidelity Investments’ study Proving Your Worth: Uncovering the Traits of the Valued Advisor” released today.
Investors who said they valued their advisors cited three key criteria. Their advisor:
• Focuses on long-term planning. Advisors focused more on long-term investment returns than short-term fluctuations in the market.
• Provides comprehensive guidance. In addition, 63 percent of investors with valued advisors wanted their advisor to know everything about their personal and financial lives so they could help them plan accordingly.
• Uses technology to enhance client relationships and promote collaboration: Forty-two percent of investors with valued advisors felt technology had enhanced the relationship. Moreover, 45 percent of investors with valued advisors agreed that they collaborate more effectively with their advisor through the use of technology.
Clients who perceived that their advisors had proved their worth and provided added value became more engaged, trusting and loyal with them, the survey says.
Sixty-six percent of those clients also indicated that they would stay with their advisor if the advisor switched firms.
Those deemed valued advisors also got three times the number of referrals from their clients than advisors who were not valued.
“The definition of the `valued advisor’ is clearly evolving,” Ross Ozer, senior vice president, Fidelity Institutional Wealth Services, said in a statement. “It’s no longer just about money management, but about providing peace of mind, getting to know the client personally and using technology to enhance the relationship, not replace it.”