Financial advisers are planning to increase their clients’ exposure to domestic equities, emerging market equities and global developed market equities, a survey of 805 investment professionals by
Forty-six percent of advisers plan to increase the allocation of clients’ assets to U.S. equities, 38% plan to increase the allocation to emerging markets equities, and 34% to global developed equities.
Advisers also overwhelming prefer mutual funds to exchange-traded funds as the investment vehicle of choice, with 60% saying mutual funds are their preferred vehicle for investment, compared with 24% of advisers preferring ETFs.
“These results are in keeping with investors’ renewed confidence in the U.S. equity market,” said Paul Atkinson, head of North American equities at Aberdeen. “U.S. companies have weathered the past year well and have been producing solid earnings growth backed by an improving labor market and a strengthening economy.”
Gary Marshall, Aberdeen’s chief executive officer, added, “We believe that the survey reveals two forces at play. One shows investors’ increased risk appetite for equities in general, which is consistent with the findings of other studies. The other is the widening of investor appetite from a previous strong ‘home country’ bias to a more diversified international portfolio. We see advisers seeking to diversify client assets to access the growth potential of developing economies.”
