Advisors are investing in their technology this year, too, with 21% of respondents reporting spending more than expected on client-facing technology and 20% spending more than expected on back-office technology. At the same time, they’re spending less than expected on marketing, 25%; professional development, 24%; and M&A activity, 22%.
When asked about the U.S. economy, just 36% of the surveyed advisors had a somewhat optimistic, optimistic or very optimistic outlook through the end of 2020, but 65% of the respondents were optimistic about the economy’s prospects through the end of 2021. A similar pattern emerged when advisors were asked about the global economy: 24% were optimistic through the end of 2020, but 63% were optimistic through the end of 2021.
The largest cohort of nearly one-third of the advisors, 30%, responded that they were somewhat pessimistic about both the global and the U.S. economies through the end of 2020, while the largest cohorts were somewhat optimistic towards the economy at the end of 2021, with 43% feeling that way about the global economy and 37% feeling that way about the U.S. economy.
A similar pattern emerged when the RIAs were asked about their outlook for U.S. stock market performance – while just 25% expected the value of U.S. stocks to increase through the end of 2020, 62% said that the market would increase in value through the end of 2021.
When asked which issues would have the biggest impact on their client portfolios, the respondents were most focused on “3 Es” – The U.S. Economy, named by 73%; the U..S. presidential elections, named by 70%; and corporate earnings, named by 70%. But more than 50% of the respondents reported being wary of three additional issues: actions by the Federal Reserve, named by 59%; unemployment, named by 53%; and a longer-term public health crisis, named by 52%.
For the report, TD Ameritrade sponsored a survey of 158 RIAs with an average of $234 million AUM. The survey was fielded via email by True North Market Insights between July 14 and July 29..