‘Unnerved’ Investors Seek Confidence In Advice

News headlines surrounding the recent U.S. elections and the future of the Affordable Care Act have left many investors unnerved, says Jim Jessee, with MFS.

The 2017 MFS Heritage Planning Survey shows two-thirds of investors have identified rising healthcare costs as one of their top concerns over the next three years.

And there are other widespread causes of anxiety, according to MFS. Approximately half of the investors surveyed identified the U.S. federal deficit, Social Security benefits and volatility in the stock market among their top concerns.

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Older investors are particularly concerned about rising healthcare costs, with more than three-quarters indicating they are either “very” or “extremely concerned” about this topic. Millennials and Generation X investors are “more focused on saving enough for retirement, with more than two-thirds of respondents in both groups indicating a high level of concern.”

Jim Jessee, co-head of global distribution with MFS, observes that six in 10 investors have delayed or will delay a major life event due to their current financial situation.

“Clearly, the barrage of headlines surrounding the recent U.S. elections and the Affordable Care Act has left many investors unnerved,” Jessee says. “And although these are real concerns, they aren’t insurmountable. Financial advisers can add a lot of value by talking to their clients about the things that keep them up at night and helping them get their financial houses in order.”

The research suggests Generation X is especially well suited for one-on-one financial advice.

“Generation X investors are relatively pessimistic about their financial future,” MFS reports. “Just one-third of Generation X investors are confident in their ability to address financial concerns and meet their long-term financial goals—the lowest among all generations surveyed.”

MFS Director of Business Development Doug Orton, observes this group simply hasn’t saved enough to feel confident, “and unlike many of their parents, they don’t have pensions or defined benefit plans to fall back on.”

“They are desperately looking for guidance,” he adds. “In fact, 85% of Generation X investors surveyed said they look to their financial adviser for retirement savings advice and approximately 60% say they will rely on their adviser more in the coming years.”

Like Generation X, MFS finds Millennials are “also pushing out significant family and career milestones,” due in large part to financial uncertainty. Still, Millennials are fairly optimistic about the future. Seven in 10 believe their financial situation will improve over the next three years and roughly half of those surveyed are confident in their ability to meet their long-term financial goals.

Institutional Investors Say ESG Helps With Returns and Volatility

However, there are some challenges that inhibit greater adoption of ESG investments, State Street Global Advisors finds.

Most institutions (80%) have an environmental, social and governance (ESG) component as part of their investment strategies, according to a survey of 475 global institutional investors in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific, including some of the largest pension plans, endowments and foundations, commissioned by State Street Global Advisors.                              

More than two-thirds (68%) of respondents say integration of ESG has significantly improved returns. In addition, 69% say pursuing an ESG strategy has helped with managing volatility.

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ESG implementation is driven by a no-compromise approach: three-quarters have the same performance expectations for ESG as they do for other investments.

The depth of ESG exposure within portfolios remains low: only 17% of respondents have more than 50% of assets with exposure to ESG factors, and 44% have less than 25%. One-third of this group has between 25% and 50%.

There are some challenges that inhibit greater adoption of ESG investments. Benchmarking is seen as one of the greatest challenges, the survey finds. More than half of respondents say they find it difficult to benchmark performance against peers and that accurate assessment of external ESG managers is an issue.

In addition, there’s internal confusion around what exactly ESG constitutes: three-quarters of respondents say there is a lack of clarity around ESG terminology in their organizations. Concerns around data, performance measures, internal capabilities and costs vary according to current levels of ESG investment exposure and maturity.

Integration is on the rise, but full integration of ESG criteria into long-term decision-making is low (just 27% are fully integrated), according to the survey. While most investors (78%) recognize the value of engagement with companies, some may be attempting to do too much with limited internal resources. Many respondents recognize the value of using firms with specialist expertise to help them deploy their ESG strategies. More than half use asset managers with a specialist division.

The full survey report is here.

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