Despite being concerned about the economy still, high net worth investors remain confident that their advisors will achieve their investment goals. However, almost three out of five independent advisors (59 per cent) anticipate difficulties in doing so, according to two surveys by Charles Schwab Advisor Services.

Only one-third of investors (32 per cent) believe advisors will face difficulties in meeting their goals in the current market - nearly half the proportion than of advisors believing the same thing - with one quarter expecting it will be easy. The findings point to a potential disparity between clients' expectations and what advisors believe they will deliver.

Moreover, where investors do perceive barriers to achieving their goals, they point to the broader investing environment as opposed to the advisor specifically, the firm said. 

In terms of what investors regard as the biggest hurdles, 57 per cent are wary of a low return on investments, followed by market losses (37 per cent).

The firm's eleventh semi-annual Independent Advisor Outlook study, which surveyed almost 900 RIAs representing $204 billion in assets under management, revealed that 45 per cent of independent advisors are bullish about the market. Surprisingly - given that investors are confident advisors will deliver goals - the second survey, which polled 504 HNW investors, found that only 29 per cent of HNW investors were bullish.

“It matters less whether clients are optimistic or pessimistic and more that they are realistic about the outcomes they are working towards,” explained Bernie Clark, executive vice president and head of Schwab. “This is where advice really takes centre stage – providing perspective and expertise within the context of an individual client’s long-term goals, which is what many RIAs do so well,” he said.

Women “key decision-makers”

According to the Independent Advisor Outlook study, women contribute to decision-making in finances nearly 60 per cent of the time - either as the primary or sole decision-maker (21 per cent), or jointly (38 per cent).

Notwithstanding this finding, over half of the RIAs questioned said they do not consider it important that their firm’s advisors match the demographic profile of their clients. On the other hand, over one-third consider it “somewhat important” (31 per cent) and 4 per cent deem it “extremely important”.

Interestingly, half of all advisors reported having no female advisors working at their firms.

Broader trends: investors more pessimistic than advisors

Nearly one-third (31 per cent) of investors anticipate unemployment to increase, compared with only 18 per cent of advisors. At the same time, 27 per cent of investors and 14 per cent of advisors believe there will be another or a “double dip” recession, the survey found.

With regards to consumer spending, 57 per cent of both groups anticipate this will improve, and a similar proportion forecast savings to increase (33 per cent, advisors; 30 per cent, investors). 

However, while 45 per cent of RIAs currently assume a bullish stance towards the market - up from 37 per cent six months ago - they have yet to regain the same level of confidence displayed a year ago (56 per cent).

Demand for advice continues

A growing number of investors (37 per cent) said their need for investment advice had increased over the past four years, with top concerns including “headline-grabbing risks” such as federal government deficits (58 per cent), political gridlock (57 per cent), the economic crisis in Europe (54 per cent) and uncertainty about taxes and inflation (41 per cent and 37 per cent respectively).

Similarly, advisors indicated that over the past six months, over a quarter of their clients (27 per cent) required reassurance in terms of their investment goals being met, up slightly (four percentage points) from six months ago, as well as year-on-year.

Almost all advisors (93 per cent) reported having acquired new clients over the past year - the biggest source of which involved investors leaving full-service brokerage firms (39 per cent).

The High Net Worth Investor study was conducted for Schwab by Koski Research and polled 504 HNW investors with a minimum of $1 million in investable assets.