“Traditionalist” market investors willing to ride out market volatility outnumber “trailblazer” market investors who want an immediate return on their investment, according to a survey conducted by Edward Jones and Dow Jones Intelligence.
The survey polled 1,000 adults across the United States to determine their financial priorities, investing attitudes and what they looked for in a financial advisor.
A majority of respondents identified themselves as “traditionalists” (55 percent) who are more likely to ride out market volatility and avoid risks to meet target returns, while a minority of respondents (45 percent) consider themselves “trailblazers” who are pessimistic about financial markets and hyper-focused on returns.
Three-fifths of the traditionalists (60 percent) said they would have no trigger to sell, compared with 10 percent of trailblazers, while half of trailblazers (50 percent) said that a 16 percent to 25 percent loss would trigger a sale, compared with 15 percent of traditionalists, according to the survey.
A majority of trailblazers (70 percent) said they wanted the advice of a trusted financial advisor in combination with their own research and knowledge, but just 29 percent said that the characteristics of the financial advisor themselves were important, while less than half (39 percent) said they considered the potential advisor’s technology important.
Over half of traditionalists (53 percent) said that the advisor’s company was more important than the advisor when seeking financial advice, compared with only 22 percent of trailblazers.
Neither traditionalists (28 percent) nor trailblazers (12 percent) considered the amount of the fees paid for financial advice to be their biggest concern, nor did traditionalists (21 percent) or trailblazers (22 percent) view employee diversity as a key characteristic in choosing a potential financial advisory firm.
Traditionalists also differed from trailblazers in how they prioritized their financial goals outside of retirement. Traditionalists prioritized family events and mortgages as the cornerstones of their financial futures, while trailblazers prioritized their personal education and careers.