A 26-country survey undertaken by the France-headquartered asset management house found that half of advised investors are very confident of funding retirement, against 14 per cent of those who have never taken advice.

Half of investors who receive professional advice say they are very confident of funding their retirement, compared with 14 per cent of those who have never accessed advice, according to research from Amundi.

The findings come from the third edition of the Decoding Investors study by Amundi, a listed subsidiary of Crédit Agricole with close to €2.4 trillion ($2.72 trillion) under management. The study surveyed 18,000 retail investors and savers across 26 countries.

Investors expect personal savings and investments to fund 42 per cent of their retirement, more than state or workplace pensions. In Asia, the figure exceeds 50 per cent. Yet only 36 per cent cite retirement as a key reason for investing: 34 per cent in Europe and 40 per cent in Asia. Of those, 23 per cent feel very confident of achieving long-term financial security, down from 26 per cent a year earlier.

Developments are encouraging investors to stay in cash. Some 43 per cent of savers expect to start putting money to work within 12 months, rising to 62 per cent among those aged 21 to 30, but 39 per cent are held back by fear of loss. Intent varies sharply: 79 per cent of Danish savers and 73 per cent of Singaporeans plan to invest, against 24 per cent in Belgium and Germany.

The answers chime with findings among affluent, HNW and ultra-high net worth individuals that uncertainties are encouraging relatively high cash holdings.

The study also found a gap between perceived and actual knowledge. Seventy per cent of self-described “experts” failed three basic financial literacy questions. HNW investors were the most confident but scored lowest, with 36 per cent answering all three correctly. They were also the most likely to use professional advisors, at 87 per cent against 58 per cent of retail investors.

On AI, the survey found that regular use of AI assistants for investment ideas quadrupled in a year to 19 per cent. Seven in 10 investors have used AI in investment decisions, and 59 per cent of those acted on its recommendations. Nearly half (46 per cent) seek information from social media influencers, led by India (68 per cent) and Brazil (65 per cent). France (28 per cent), Spain (37 per cent) and Germany (40 per cent) trail.

(Editor's comment: While it may seem rather self-interested, and understandable, for large financial services firms to issue a report finding that advice is, unsurprisingly, important, the takeaway from this sort of report should encourage firms to spread the advice gospel. Advice matters in giving individuals more composure and confidence to put money to work. With pressures building on state-run pension schemes amidst an ageing population, governments around the world are trying to encourage savers to take money out of low-yielding cash and put it into risk assets. In Europe, for example, this has been a focus for some time. See this article here.)