Elections, Inflation Top Client Concerns

Plan advisory shops are more frequently either engaging directly with participants or reaching them by partnering with providers. But what types of questions and services do those participants have for advisers?

It’s not an exact comparison, but Natixis Investment Managers on Wednesday released an extensive global survey of financial advisers, including the top questions and areas of concern they hear from clients. In the U.S., the firm polled 300 financial advisers on a range of questions, including what is top of mind for clients.

The full results for that subset, shared by the firm, show a client base concerned with a few shorter-term items, such as November’s elections, but also shifting away from inflation to more general market volatility and management amid interest rate cuts.

The most frequent questions advisers are getting from clients are:

• Should I be worried about my investments/finances in light of the U.S. election? – 88%
• Am I protected from a market downturn? – 83%
• Am I going to meet my goals? – 76%
• What do I need to do to outpace inflation? – 61%
• Why should I get back into the market when cash is so attractive right now? – 59%
• How do I preserve and pass on what I built? – 54%
• Should I be in bonds? – 43%
• Why am I losing so much of my returns to taxes? – 20%
• Should I be in private assets? – 17%

Discussing such questions with clients is increasingly important for business, according to the financial advisers. Advisers told Natixis they spend 46% of their time meeting with or managing clients, with a top focus being “keeping them invested and helping them to avoid timing the market,” according to the report. Meanwhile, 62% of advisers see growing demand for financial planning services—not just investing services—as a way to differentiate their practices.

“Advisers have had to demonstrate their flexibility and ability to navigate historically challenging market dynamics in recent years,” David Goodsell, executive director of the Natixis Center for Investor Insight, says via email. “Now, they need to flex their strategies even more to appeal to the next generation of investors.”

According to the survey, a shift in existing client relationships will drive some of that demand for planning. About 41% of advisers cited the “generational wealth transfer” as presenting an “existential threat” to their business, as clients’ spouses or children may move—or at least considering moving—their assets.

“To combat this, advisers are looking to build relationships with clients and their family members, improve their efficiency and service offerings, and find ways to be more dedicated to prospecting for new clients,” Natixis wrote in the report.

Financial advisers reported that, when a spouse inherits assets, the adviser tends to keep the spouse as a client 78% of the time; when a child inherits assets, that drops to 58%. Meanwhile, 22% of advisers note they have lost “significant assets” due to generational attrition.

Meanwhile, while clients’ top concern of what could affect their savings was the U.S. elections, advisers were not as fussed. For their top concerns, 85% are looking at underlying economic fundamentals and see policy decisions as ultimately mattering in the long term, with 68% of advisers reporting public debt as the top economic risk.

Natixis Investment Managers’ Global Survey of Financial Professionals was conducted by CoreData Research from June through August 2024. The survey included 2,700 respondents in 20 countries, including 300 in the U.S.