Business is booming for registered investment advisors, according to a new TD Ameritrade Institutional telephone survey.
RIAs reported that their assets and firm revenues each grew by an average of 18 percent during the second half of 2018, and that new clients accounted for an increase of 14 percent of their business.
Three-fourths of advisors expected to continue that growth into 2019, and nearly half said they expect to grow even faster in 2019, the survey said.
“In times of market uncertainty, investors seek out financial guidance from knowledgeable professionals … who focus on their goals, risk tolerance and other details of their financial lives,” said Vanessa Oligino, director, business performance solutions at TD Ameritrade Institutional. “RIAs help clients understand their choices for weathering different market cycles so they can keep pursuing their goals.”
MaritzCX conducted the telephone survey in November and December on behalf of TD Ameritrade. Advisors responded to survey questions based on the past six months of business, not the entire year of 2018.
Sixty-three percent of independent advisors said they were optimistic about the U.S. economy for the near-term, and 47 percent said they were optimistic about the global economy, the report said. Similar to last year, 47 percent expected stock prices to increase.
Forty-eight percent of RIAs said clients want to know about cannabis-related stocks.
Also, 55 percent of RIAs said their clients consulted them about environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.
Just 15 percent of RIAs said their clients showed any interest in cryptocurrencies.
Advisors surveyed said that one out of four new clients had previously been self-directed investors or were new to investing, and 33 percent of advisors’ new clients left commission-based platforms in favor of independent, fee-based fiduciary advice, according to the survey.