Advisors not planning on lazy summer

(April 30, 2004) Ah, summertime — when the living is easy. There’s nothing quite like settling in at the cottage and reviewing your business. According to a survey conducted by The ADVISOR Group, financial advisors appear to be set for a summer of hard work, reviewing portfolios and prospecting for clients.

The top priority for industry professionals for the summer months is a review of their client portfolios, with 40% of respondents planning to do so. This is especially true with more established advisors, who are less concerned with growing their book.

The survey found the next highest priority was prospecting for new clients, with 25% of respondents focusing on growing their book.

Advisors who have been in the business for less than five years are more likely to focus on prospecting for clients, with 39% of respondents saying this was their top priority over the summer. For those with more than five years’ experience, this figure drops to 21%.

A similar split is evident between advisors with smaller book values. Those who manage less than $10 million are more likely to spend the warmer months prospecting (32%) than those with assets over $30 million (14%).

Twenty-three per cent of those surveyed said their top priority was business planning, while least popular activities included self-education (5%) or client appreciation (4%).

Dedicated group that they are, many advisors were still likely to keep an eye on industry developments.

For those heading off to the cottage, a little light reading is the plan, with 56% of industry professionals surveyed saying they are likely to read industry magazines. The most avid among them are Ontario advisors and financial planners, with more than six out of 10 planning to keep up with their reading. May we suggest — without bias, of course — Advisor’s Edge?

These findings are based on the results of the March 2004 fielding of the ADVISOR Industry Panel. The panel represents the recognized universe of the advisor community for the purpose of delivering questionnaires to collect advisors’ opinions on specific industry related topics. A total of 399 online interviews were completed with a response rate of 42%.

Filed by Steven Lamb, Advisor.ca, steven.lamb@advisor.rogers.com