The reliance of Americans on advisors for mutual fund purchases declined slightly in 2014, according to statistics released this week by the Investment Company Institute.
Last year, 80 percent of families who owned mutual funds outside of employer retirement plans bought them with the help of investment professionals while 81 percent did in 2013.
At the same time, households that bought mutual funds solely with the aid of financial advisors dropped to 40 percent from 42 percent, according to the ICI data.
In another sign of the trend, 7 percent of Americans held mutual funds entirely through investment professionals in 2014 against 8 percent the year earlier.
According to ICI, financial professionals are the most trusted source of advice for rollovers.
Last year, 50 percent of workers relied primarily on investment professionals for information about rolling over money from their former employer’s retirement plan into a traditional IRA, while 61 percent of employees used advisors as one of several sources on the topic.
Employers were the most relied on source of information only 11 percent of the time, while 38 percent of workers turned to both employers and others in making their rollover decisions.
The often-heard complaint among spouses, “Honey, you never listen to me,” proves true in family finances, at least as far as rollovers were concerned.
While 35 percent of adults said they sought advice from their partners on rollovers, only 5 percent relied on them primarily.
In its calculations of advice from investment professionals and financial professionals, ICI lumped together registered investment advisors, full-service brokers, independent financial planners, bank and savings institution representatives, insurance agents and accountants.