Consumers increasingly value planners – IFSA research

The Investment and Financial Services Association will this week release the results of research revealing a distinct improvement in consumer sentiment towards financial planners.

The chief executive of IFSA, Richard Gilbert, flagged the release of the “IFSA Investor Sentiment” research in an address to the Financial Planning Association national conference in Melbourne last week, and said that it would reveal that Australian consumers overwhelmingly feel well served by financial planners.

He said the survey showed levels of satisfaction were very high among those going to financial planners, with 94 per cent saying they were satisfied with the experience.

“Our research, conducted for IFSA by TNS, also shows that four out of five people feel better-off as a result of using a financial planner, and that having a planner helps people to feel better prepared for retirement, have greater confidence that they’re going to reach their financial goal and a better control of their finances,” Gilbert said.

However, the IFSA research also identified the continuing retirement savings gap in Australia, with Gilbert saying 52 per cent of those under the age of 30 had said they hoped to come into money so that they would have enough money for retirement.

Gilbert also pointed out that disputes against financial planners for poor quality advice were less than 150 in 2005, something he said looked particularly impressive when it was benchmarked against the 17,000 to 18,000 or so planners in Australia, many of whom had more than 200 client interactions in any one year.