Advisors Focused on Portfolio Management, Volatility: Fidelity

Market volatility, regulatory reforms and global political developments in the first half unsettled investors and financial advisors, and focused advisors’ attention on portfolio management, Fidelity Institutional Asset Management reported Monday.

Twenty-six percent of advisors cited portfolio management as a key first-half theme, Fidelity’s latest quarterly Advisor Investment Pulse survey found.

Market volatility was the second biggest theme, cited by 25% of advisors, followed by 17% who cited regulatory and political developments. Other areas of focus:

• Practice management: 10%
• Market updates: 8%
• Client guidance: 7%

The second-quarter results were similar: 27% of respondents focused on portfolio management, 23% on market volatility and 21% on regulatory and political developments.

In a statement, Fidelity Institutional Asset Management president Scott Couto said, “Regulatory changes like the introduction of the Department of Labor’s investment advice rule and political developments such as Brexit and the U.S. election campaign added to a degree of uncertainty to global markets.”

The Advisor Investment Pulse survey captures the investment topics on the minds of around 250 advisors in order to identify common concerns and deliver resources to help them navigate changing market conditions.

Evaluating Portfolios

Fidelity recommended that advisors apply multiple time horizons to their analysis when identifying the ideal mix of risk and return for their clients. By framing portfolio discussions using tactical, business cycle and secular lenses, advisors can debunk the notion that there is one optimal portfolio, it said.