Mostinvestor’splace money in managed funds on the recommendation of financial advisers, a new survey has found.
The RMIT/IOOF survey on investor behaviour found 64 per cent sought advice from planners and only two per cent used the Internet to invest directly.
“It is obvious that the financial planning profession plays a key role in the decision-making process of investors in managed funds,” says RMIT lecturer Magdy Stephan.
The survey, which was unveiled at the first Melbourne seminar of the Association of Financial Services Educators last week, questioned 400 unit-holders in managed funds.
The poor take-up of direct investing by Australians was put down to the Internet being seen as a source of information, rather than an investing tool, according to Stephan.
According to the ABS, 2.3 million households now have access to the Internet and RMIT researchers had expected a higher penetration.
The RMIT survey also found for most investors the main investment objective from managed funds was security, followed by growth in the unit price.
“The concern with security of capital may reflect the recent turbulence that has occurred within investment markets during the past couple of years,” Stephan says.
The main reasons why investors pull out of funds was due to performance, although fees were another area of concern, the survey found.
