Cerulli: Ignorance about mutual funds widespread in Asia

More than 4 in 10 (43 percent) of mass retail investors in Asia are not investing in mutual funds because they don’t know about the products, the research shows. This compares to 19 percent of high net worth investors generally.

“Cerulli believes this suggests that fund managers and distributors have been more effective at educating and disseminating investment information and knowledge to their wealthier clients, and less so to investors in the lower wealth tiers,” the report states. “It also suggests that investment information is more accessible and intimate at higher wealth tiers, as financial advice becomes more proactive.”

Significant percentages of Asian retail investors (42.9 percent) also do not engage a professional financial advisor. This is true not only in the bottom tier (those with less than $100,000 in investable assets), but also among mass affluent investors ($100,000-$1 million in investable assets) and the high net worth ($1 million or more).

Why are so many Asian investors going without professional financial advice? The key reason, Cerulli writes, is an unwillingness to pay for it.