Even before a late summer market dip ramped up volatility, most investors sought financial advice with a distinctly human touch to soothe their nerves.

According to the Investment Management Consultants Association’s (IMCA) 2015 Investor Sentiment Survey, 83 percent of investors want their advisors to provide a calming influence, and 92 percent say financial planners should help them maintain a long-term perspective on their investments.

“To most investors, cutting-edge strategies don’t have to do with aligning the best funds or timing the market,” says Sean Walters, IMCA CEO. “It has to do with helping clients align their objectives, finding the right allocations and buckets for their planning. Clients want to feel confident that the processes their advisors use have a long-term outlook.”

On Aug. 24, the Dow plunged by more than 1000 points in the morning and ended the day down 588 points, the worst single-day loss since 2011. IMCA’s report, released days afterward, indicated that investors were more concerned over a market correction (60 percent) than they were low yields (37 percent) or inflationary risk (29 percent).

“When someone is hurting, they go see a doctor,” Walters says. “When there’s a downturn or correction, that’s when there’s an opportunity for the profession to kick in and support clients in bigger, more meaningful ways.”

As a profession, financial advising is adjusting to evolving technology, shifting regulations and the perplexing millennial generation — but investor demand may have more influence on the way they do business.

“The things that investors want are things that aren’t typically delivered well by robo-advisors,” Walters says. “Though the long-term focus is there, robo-advisors can’t provide the same reassurance as a human advisor.”

 

But IMCA’s research shows that there is space for the robos — IMCA’s respondents rated investment management strategies and expertise as the most valuable competencies their advisor could have, beating out insurance solutions, tax planning, and even holistic financial planning.

“If an investor is paying you, they should be able to expect you to deliver on an asset-based fee,” Walters says. “You should be able to do asset management at a very high level. There’s lots of room for that investment advice. Longer term, the algorithmic technologies will support advisors with some clients, and handle the fundamental work with investments for lower-end clients.”

High-net-worth clients still hunger for tax advice. According to IMCA’s research, 80 percent of investors with $1 million or more in investible assets want their advisor to help them stay abreast of current tax law changes, but only 53 percent of investors fell like they’re getting those services from advisors.

“There’s a real disconnect on taxes,” Walters says. “I think advisors can look to technology to help them deliver this kind of advice. There’s already technology in that realm that does pretty well.”

IMCA’s research also reinforces the value of specialization via voluntary certifications — but not just any certification will do.

“Investors want an advisor who is confident and ethical and knows what they’re doing,” Walters says. “They aren’t as aware of the credentials in our industry as the advisors are, and they never will be, but they have some expectations that go above and beyond minimally licensed requirements. There’s a lot happening in the investment world today, a lot of change and innovation. Clients expect their advisors to stay up to speed on that.”

For the study, surveyors contacted 1,041 investors with at least $50,000 in assets during 2015.

Investors also argued that advisor certifications should: