Financial advisors aren’t just helping build investors’ portfolios. They’re also helping build their confidence for the near term and for their retirement years, according to the sixth annual Legg Mason Global Investment Survey.

U.S. investors who work with a financial advisor are more than twice as confident they’ll have enough money to enjoy a comfortable life in retirement, according to the survey. They’re also more confident their investments will perform well over the next 12 months and they reported having more diversified portfolios.

Investors in general are feeling a little less confident about their portfolios for the next 12 months than they were last year, but a still-robust 72 percent of those with advisors feel confident, compared to 52 percent of those without, the survey said. Among those who feel “very confident” about their portfolios for this same period, 32 percent have advisors and just 7 percent are flying solo.

What jumped out at Tom Hoops, head of business development for Legg Mason, is how much do-it-yourselfers’ confidence has plunged since the previous survey. Last year, 39 percent said they were “very confident” about their portfolio for the next 12 months, compared to 31 percent of investors with advisors.

It appears do-it-yourselfers are less confident they’re positioned correctly “as this almost 10-year, straight-line bull market in U.S. equities may be coming to an end, or if not an end, at least getting very choppy,” he said. “What financial advisors do for clients is going to prove to be even more important as we start to navigate the future waters and even the current waters.”

Although the latest survey found that nearly three times as many investors with a financial advisor feel “very confident” they have enough money saved for retirement (35 percent, compared to only 13 percent of those without), “to me that number still feels pretty low,” said Hoops. “That’s probably an opportunity, if not necessarily a call to action, as to how as an industry we need to try to do better.”

The survey also revealed a stark difference in how investors view the market opportunities presented by various asset classes. Notably, 60 percent of those without financial advisors believe U.S. equities will be the best opportunity over the next 12 months, compared to 44 percent of those with an advisor. Advisor clients were far more likely to say that real estate, domestic bonds, alternatives, gold/metals and international bonds also present the best opportunities over this time frame.

Investors working with financial advisors were also more likely to perceive volatility as a positive that, if managed properly, can yield higher returns (44 percent of advisor clients, compared to 27 percent of investors without a financial advisor). A related survey from Legg Mason found that 55 percent of financial advisors view volatility as a positive.

When the markets are volatile, investors tend to feel emotional and compelled to react, noted Hoops. The survey “highlights the need for having a solid financial plan and the need for having professional advice around portfolio construction,” he said.

Research Plus surveyed 1,000 U.S. investors who plan to invest a minimum of $50,000 over the next 12 months. The online survey was conducted in July and August.