Keep the scented candles and antacids at hand.
Financial advisors are feeling most anxious about political and regulatory developments, according to the third quarter Fidelity Advisor Investment Pulse study, which was released on Thursday.
More than 28 percent of the respondents said government-related topics like the election and its bearing on the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule were among their top concerns, according to Boston-based Fidelity Institutional Asset Management.
The U.S. presidential election is neck and neck and the future of the country is clouded. With unknowns about the enforcement of the Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule also piled on, the financial industry might need some therapy to soothe its frazzled nerves.
“Advisors have spent a large part of this year assessing the impact of the DOL rule on their business model and how they work with clients. On top of that, they’ve had to work hard to help investors manage through a backdrop of political uncertainty,” said Scott E. Couto, president, Fidelity Institutional, in a released statement. “Although these developments can be a source of anxiety, it’s critical that advisors help clients focus on what they can control by making sure they stay the course and stick to a solid, long-term investment plan.”
As Election Day draws near, the percentage of survey participants concerned about regulation and electoral politics have increased, from 16 percent in the first quarter of 2016, to 21 percent in the second quarter, to nearly one-third today.
After politics and regulation, advisors say that they are focusing on portfolio management and market volatility, which registered as the second and third most prevalent concerns in the third-quarter survey.
Advisors are also concerned that the Federal Open Market Committee is finally prepared to raise the Federal Funds Rate at its December meeting. It was the fourth most prevalent concern in Fidelity’s third-quarter survey, with 14 percent naming it as their “top-of-mind” concern.
Anxiety over interest rates appear to have bottomed in the first quarter of 2016, when just 7 percent of the respondents were most concerned about a rate hike.
The search for yield and income, a hot-button issue at the beginning of the year, came in as the fifth most common concern in the third quarter, named by 8 percent of the survey’s respondents.