Of the 157 people who responded to the survey:
Gender
Male advisers: 93 per cent.
Female advisers: 6 per cent.
Age
Under 25: 1 per cent
25 to 34: 14 per cent
35 to 44: 27 per cent
45 to 54: 29 per cent
55 to 34: 24 per cent
Main area of business
Investments: 60 per cent
Pensions: 29 per cent
Protection: 5 per cent
Mortgages: 1 per cent
Tax: 2 per cent
Other: 3 per cent
Annual average wealth per client on which they advise:
Under £50,000: 10 per cent
£51,000 to £100,000: 36 per cent
£101,000 to £500,000: 34 per cent
£501,000 to £1m: 5 per cent
Over £1m: 5 per cent
Don’t manage investments directly: 9 per cent
Flexible investment comes out on top:
Asked which type of multi-asset fund advisers prefer, of 157 respondents, flexible investment was the clear winner.
0-35 per cent shares: 4 per cent (6 advisers)
20-60 per cent shares: 31 per cent (48 advisers)
40-85 per cent shares: 22 per cent (35 advisers)
Flexible investment: 41 per cent (64 advisers)
When it comes to stock market mitigation, a majority of respondents (65%) agreed that multi-asset funds would help in stock market mitigation, while 33 per cent said this was not the case.
Darius McDermott, managing director of London-based Chelsea Financial Services, said: “If advisers want that greater flexibility on the equity portion then they clearly need to be aware of the extra risk. The whole re-naming of those managed sectors from cautious, balanced and active, to basically the 20-60, 40-80 and flexible, was because there were a whole load funds that were in the cautious managed sector that weren’t very cautious. The new sector names, while maybe not perfect, at least outline the equity choices. The whole point of multi-asset is not to have all of it in equities, so I would agree that flexibility is key, but if I am buying a multi-asset fund I don’t want to wake up and find 100 per cent in equities ever. I think the 20-60, or 40-85 are plenty free enough for a multi-asset fund. If I am buying a multi-asset fund I want it to be diversified, by that we want more than just equities and bonds, we want the ability to do currency, managed cash absolute returns – that is the whole point of multi-asset funds: this basket of diverse asset classes.”
Multi-asset vs. multi-manager:
