NU Online News Service, July 9, 11:04 a.m. – High-income investors say they care about as much about financial advisors’ efforts to communicate as they do about investment returns, according to results of a new survey by Matthew Greenwald & Associates, Washington.
When Matthew Greenwald interviewed 500 high-income professionals, executives and business owners, it found that only 56% had ever switched their main source of financial planning help, and only 9% had changed advisors more than three times.
Although 54% of the participants who changed advisors said they did so because of problems with investment performance, the same percentage said they changed because their advisors did not communicate frequently enough, and 63% said they changed simply because the new advisors seemed more appealing.
Forty-five percent complained that the old advisors did not provide enough information or options, and 34% questioned whether the old advisors had clients’ best interests in mind.
The Matthew Greenwald survey, sponsored by Nationwide Financial Services Inc., Columbus, Ohio, confirms results of a similar survey released in June. That survey, conducted by Harris Interactive Inc., Rochester, N.Y., and sponsored by The Phoenix Companies Inc., Hartford, also found that high-income investors claim to be as interested in advisor communications efforts as they are in investment returns.