Gender divergence in adviser satisfaction

Female investors’ perceptions of financial advisers have improved, while perceptions from male investors have dropped slightly, according to Lifeplan’s ICFS Financial Advice Satisfaction Index.

The ICFS survey is conducted every six months and measures investors’ attitudes across the three drivers of advice advocacy: trust and reliability, technical ability and investment performance.

Head of Lifeplan, Matt Walsh, said that it is unusual for male and female perceptions of financial advisers to diverge so substantially.

“This is the first time there has been such a dramatic divergence across all three drivers of satisfaction between female and male investors,” Mr Walsh said.

“While women tend to have a more positive view of their financial adviser than men do, in past surveys satisfaction levels between the genders have usually mirrored each other.”

Mr Walsh also noted that satisfaction levels of younger investors have improved across all three criteria, saying the results are a very encouraging sign for the financial advice profession.

“For the past few years, financial advisers have been made aware they must do more to broaden their client base,” Mr Walsh said.

“These results suggests that this advice has been acted on, and advisers are doing much better with clients outside their traditional demographic – that is, with female clients and younger clients.”

The results are based on a survey of 413 investors who use financial advisers.

Adrian Flores

Adrian Flores is a deputy editor at Momentum Media, focusing mainly on banking, wealth management and financial services. He has also written for Public Accountant, Accountants Daily and The CEO Magazine.

You can contact him on [email protected].