Australians looking for a formal plan from their advisers

Matt Schiffman

Australians value structure and planning most highly in their relationship with their advisers, compared to global investors who are focused on performance, according to recent Legg Mason research.

Surveyed as part of the Legg Mason Global Investment Survey, which looked at the attitudes of over 4,200 investors in 20 countries, Australian investors were asked to name the top benefits of working with an adviser. Some 59% of respondents said creating a formal financial plan to achieve their goals was the best thing about working with an adviser.

Other key benefits named in the survey by Australian investors included avoiding costly mistakes (46%), and having someone to manage their entire portfolio (43%). Globally, investors nominated the opportunity for better investment performance as their top benefit, with 59% saying this was the best thing about working with an adviser.

Legg Mason’s Global Head of Distribution Marketing, Matt Schiffman, said the results demonstrated that Australians valued a structured approach to financial advice, with clear goals that made it easy to measure their success.

“Australians are less focused on tracking the annual performance of the investments their adviser recommends as a measure of success,” said Mr Schiffman. “For Australian investors, the experience of using an adviser is more about developing a long-term plan for financial independence.

“As more Australians reach retirement, they are thinking about planning for a comfortable lifestyle 20 or 30 years into the future and how an adviser can help them get there”, he said.

The survey also revealed that Australian usage of advisers was slightly lower than among global investors as a whole, with 27% of Australian investors saying they work with an adviser compared to 36% globally. Mr Schiffman said this presented an opportunity for more advisers to add value to the Australian investor experience, particularly when it came to setting investors on a stable path to financial independence.

“Globally we have seen a trend towards increased investor confidence in markets where large amounts of investors work with an adviser,” said Mr Schiffman. “Given Australians’ relative pessimism compared to global investors – only half of Australians think they will be able to maintain their current lifestyle later in life, compared to 75% globally – advisers do have a key role to play in helping investors to feel more confident in achieving their financial goals.”