According to the Northstar/Sullivan Rebuilding Investor Trust Survey, which polled more than 1,500 investors, almost two-thirds of respondents have a high level of trust in their primary financial advisor.

Trust in advisors has not just been shaken by losses stemming from the financial turmoil but by high-profile financial scandals, such as the $65 billion Ponzi scheme fraud of Bernard Madoff, which raised concerns over whether wealth managers have undertaken sufficient due diligence checks on investments.

Only a quarter of the households, which have at least $100,000 in investable assets, excluding real estate and workplace retirement plans, say trust in their advisor has declined since before September 2008.

Nine in 10 investors who had an advisor when the market downturn started are still working with that same advisor, and 20 per cent say they are relying on their advisor even more than before.

Despite trusting their advisors, however, affluent investors have lost trust in financial institutions, the financial markets, the media and the government, the survey found. Only 10 per cent of respondents said they highly trust financial advisors or financial institutions in general.