Advisers’ technical abilities rated highly by consumers



Consumers have high regard for financial advisers’ “technical abilities”, but their trust in the profession has been shaken in recent months, new research reveals.
The latest data from the Lifeplan ICFS (International Centre for Financial Services) Financial Advice Satisfaction Index, found that despite “gloomy economic conditions” consumers rated financial advisers’ technical abilities highly.
The results of the October 2014 survey revealed that investors who have been receiving advice for two to five years had “an unusually high perception of financial advisers”, compared to previous surveys.
However, advisers’ trust and reliability scores fell by almost one per cent last month, when compared with the data for September, as did consumer confidence.
“Higher wealth levels are correlated with all the drivers of perception. Investors with higher levels of wealth have shown a slight decrease in their perceptions on trust and reliability regarding their financial advisers compared with the last survey,” the authors said.
“However, the perceptions on technical abilities of their financial advisers and the perception of their own investment performance has increased over the last survey.”
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