Industry experts seem to agree that the demand for financial advice is
running high, but people's willingness to follow the advice may be
another matter.
That was the
message of a recent survey by ING in which a third of advisor
respondents said that it's harder to give advice to clients today than
it was five years ago.
Most of the
respondents in this group, 90%, say that getting clients to make
decisions is the toughest part of giving advice.
Meanwhile, 85% also said the difficulty is in convincing prospective
clients that they need professional financial advice.
Overcoming
people's lack of interest in financial planning and intimidation about
financial planning were also cited as factors.
One of the
conclusions of the survey was that advisors and financial service
companies need to make their solutions easier to understand.
"People are still
intimidated by managing their finances, or just aren't interested in
taking action to ensure a secure financial future," says Toby Hoden,
chief marketing officer for ING U.S. Financial Services. "If we can
make financial services easier, perhaps more people would be more
engaged in the process."