Global wealth advisers are outlining cautious optimism about the future, with many expecting to be able to successfully meet their clients’ financial goals despite economic challenges, according to Schroders.
While worries persist around a potential recession and geopolitical tensions, the latest Schroders Global Investor Insights Survey suggests advisers mostly share a positive sentiment looking ahead.
Surveying over 1,700 wealth advisers globally, representing more than US$12 trillion in assets under management, it noted over half (62 per cent) of wealth advisers expressed confidence in achieving their clients’ financial goals over the next one to two years.
“The global investment landscape in 2024 has been shaped by a mix of geopolitical risks, monetary policy shifts, and economic uncertainty. Yet, despite these ongoing challenges, risk markets have demonstrated resilience as economic activity has held up and inflation has eased, enabling central banks to start cutting interest rates,” Schroders said.
“Our outlook for the global economy remains cautiously optimistic, with global growth projected to reach 2.7 per cent in both 2024 and 2025. While concerns about a potential US recession persist, we believe these fears may be overstated. Against this backdrop, we continue to see opportunities in risk markets, bolstered by monetary easing and a broadly stable global economic environment.
“The sentiment of wealth advisers aligns with our cautious optimism about the economic and market outlook.”
The survey did find regional disparities in confidence levels, with around 65 per cent of advisers in the Asia Pacific saying they are confident or very confident about meeting clients’ return expectations.
Meanwhile, confidence is higher in EMEA (70 per cent). According to Schroders, advisers in this region “tend to focus on more conservative investment strategies and the economic environment is relatively stable”.
In contrast, confidence is lower in the Americas (53 per cent), which is attributed to concerns around interest rate volatility, inflation, and rate cut uncertainty.
Interestingly, the survey also found the clients of wealth managers and advisers are feeling positive about the current market environment, with less than 20 per cent expressing negative sentiment.
