Thirty-one percent of the advisors say they will increase the use of alternative investments by 5 percent to 10 percent during the coming year, while 57 percent say they use open-end mutual funds to gain exposure to alternatives now.
Advisors also were asked to rank the income-generating investment products they use based on their usage. Fixed income mutual funds and limited partnerships tied at 16 percent followed by real estate investment trusts at 15 percent, equities at 13 percent and individual bonds at 9 percent.
Continuing a trend from previous years, advisors cited acquiring more affluent clients as their major goal for this year (72 percent). However, growing and attracting clients and generating referrals is also the single biggest challenge they say they will face this year, the survey says. Advisors say they get most of their leads from referrals or from industry professionals.
Advisors also want to improve efficiency and time management (54 percent), capture more assets from current clients (53 percent) and market their business (46 percent).