First, the good news: Most registered investment advisors and broker-dealer affiliated advisors say that shelter-in-place restrictions resulting from the coronavirus pandemic haven’t seriously disrupted their ability to serve clients, according to a study from Practical Perspectives, an independent consulting and research firm focused on the wealth-management industry.
Now, the bad news: A majority of the advisors contacted for this study said they expect total revenue and overall profitability at their firms will be negatively impacted by the virus during the next six months.
Specifically, 76% of respondents anticipate a negative impact on revenue and 65% envision a hit to their profitability.
“How a projected decline in the financial strength of advisor practices plays out over time may accelerate consolidation and the exodus of smaller advisors from the industry,” said the report, “How Financial Advisors Are Responding to the Challenge of the Coronavirus,” which polled roughly 525 RIAs and broker-dealer advisors from April 2 to 8. The 52-page report covers a range of topics regarding how advisors are coping with the Covid-19-related fallout.
Overall, it paints a picture that advisors are holding down the fort and soldiering on. It even hints at optimism among advisors.
For example, mayhem in the financial markets has jostled the nerves of many investors, which could cause some of them to seek professional advice. Accordingly, 45% of advisors in the Practical Perspectives survey said they expect growth in new clients served. In a related matter, 91% of advisors said they anticipate either a positive impact or no impact in their ability to retain existing clients.
Among the report’s findings:
• 64% of advisors said they’ve experienced little, if any, disruption to their client-service capabilities during the crisis.
• 84% are either “extremely” or “very” confident in meeting client needs.
• 78% have proactively reached out to most—if not all—of their clients.
• 83% have made no more than minor changes to how they manage portfolios, and this includes one in three advisors who have not made any changes.
The most common portfolio changes made were raising cash allocations (52%), boosting exposure to so-called less aggressive equities such as dividend payers (38%) and decreased equity exposure (33%).
Looking ahead, 10% of advisors who participated in this report expect that within six months the equity markets will be positive year to date, while 16% believe they will be flat and 45% said they will be negative.