“Affluent investors demand trustworthiness, ethical business standards, and financial strength,” said Kristina Terzieva, Phoenix Product Manager for the semi-annual Phoenix Retirement Services Study. “Firms must also make it easy for investors to manage their retirement portfolios and demonstrate that they care about their customers,” she added.
The research shows “what affluent investors consider to be effective advertising,” “how they evaluate financial services firms offering retirement products and services,” and their “likelihood to start a new relationship with any of 72 brands covered by Phoenix.”
About 30 ads were reviewed by 757 affluent investors in the study. Affluent investors were defined as those over $100,000 in investable household assets outside of retirement plans, and household income over $100,000.
In describing themselves, over half of the affluent investors view their household as financially worse-off now than a year ago and two-thirds anticipate no improvement in their financial situation for at least one year. To gauge the relative health of the U.S. economy, one-third of investors rely on market averages and one-quarter track the unemployment rate.
Affluent investors reported that within 30 days they intended to meet with a financial advisor, invest more in mutual funds rather than individual securities, allocate more money to certificates of deposit, and diversify accounts among multiple firms to maximize FDIC insurance coverage.
Just over one-third of the 757 affluent investors said they make their own retirement decisions, and only 10% said they rely on a financial advisor for all decisions. The remaining 55% either rely on advisors for specialized needs or consult an advisor but make their own final retirement planning decisions.
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