For example: Half of affluent investors said portfolio performance is more important than the personal relationship they have with their advisors, compared with only 31% of advisors who felt that way. Meanwhile, 18% of advisors considered the personal relationship more important, compared with only 4% of investors.
Even recruitment methods were called into question in the survey. While many advisors place significant importance on social events and seminars in recruiting clients, only 11% of affluent investors said they consider this strategy effective. Forty-two percent of advisors, however, said they consider such events effective recruiting tools.
"Our study revealed that while advisors and affluent investors generally enjoy a rewarding relationship, there are divergences in their attitudes and expectations," says Jay Lanigan, president of Fidelity Registered Investment Advisor Group.
The important of portfolio performance isn‚t the only area in which affluent clients and advisors viewed things differently. Client satisfaction is another area. Only 20% of investors said they‚re more satisfied with their primary advisor relationship than they were a year ago, while 54% of advisors felt their clients held that view. And while 59% of advisors feel their clients are more reliant upon them than they were a year ago, only 30% of affluent investors feel similarly.
Some of the studies other findings:
• Investors were nearly twice as likely as advisors to say that improved investment performance is a primary catalyst for transferring assets. In fact, 69% of investors say poor investment returns would make them consider switching to a new primary advisor. Yet 45% of advisors felt developing confidence and trust was an important factor influencing client decisions on assets.
• The more affluent the clients, the more likely they are to be concerned with performance. For example, 84% of those with $5 million or more in investable assets cited performance track record as "extremely important" or "very important" in their selection of an advisor. Among investors with less than $5 million, only 68% ranked performance that high.
• Men are typically more concerned about performance than women. The survey found that 56% of men rated performance as more important than their relationship with an advisor, compared with 37% for women. The majority of women, 61%, placed their advisor relationship on the same level of importance as investments, compared with 40% of men.
The study consisted of surveys of 510 affluent investors who each have more than $1 million in nonretirement investable assets and 320 advisors. The survey was conducted March 6 to March 24.
"Performance matters to all clients, and ultra-high-net-worth investors–and men in particular–place the highest value on performance in selecting an advisor and evaluating the success of the advisor-client relationship," says Lanigan.