Financial Advisor Confidence Outlook
The Financial Advisor Confidence Outlook (FACO) is a monthly index published on Financial Planning that surveys hundreds of financial advisors to understand their forward-looking perspective on the economy and plans for client asset allocations. This index provides a snapshot of the economic landscape and provides a peer view into client advising choices for the coming month.
In this index, advisors are asked to share their outlook on six core economic indicators: the overall economy, the global economic system, government policy, their asset allocation, their client's risk tolerance, and their practice performance. From these responses, a score is developed to take into account the balance of positive and negative outlooks. These scores are then averaged to create the overall outlook score: a value from -100 to 100 with -100 being the most pessimistic outlook possible, 0 being a neutral outlook, and 100 being the most optimistic outlook possible.
The FACO (June, 2023 – present) is a reimagined version of the Retirement Advisor Confidence Index (June, 2011 – May, 2023).
After an optimistic start to the year, financial advisors' confidence in the economy and other key indicators fell sharply in March as the United States escalated its bombing campaign in Iran.
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In this month's FACO, we asked how much time advisors spent on their firm's brands, what their marketing objectives were and their main sources of new clients.
March 6
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The 6-3 Supreme Court ruling against one of President Donald Trump's signature economic policies was consequential, but experts say volatility is unlikely to be over.
February 20
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Financial advisors say they are increasing client portfolio allocations to international stocks in the latest Financial Planning survey.
February 10
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Nearly two-thirds of advisors surveyed this month said that internal training programs or workshops were offered by their firms.
February 6
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Many advisors haven't yet begun putting together an exit plan. Experts say there are common features and defined timelines that can help make it work.
January 26
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Advisors know that a transition plan is important, but many fall into the trap of procrastination.
January 23
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The recent fall in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is likely to blame, experts say, but don't expect that decrease to continue forever.
December 19
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Findings from iterations of Financial Planning's Financial Advisory Confidence Outlook show which assets have stood the test of time.
November 17
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One-third of financial advisors say balancing personalization with growth is the hardest trade-off for them to manage. Doing so successfully means making hard choices about what's most important for clients and the business.
November 14
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Less than a third of firms have a formal, documented plan in place, according to this month's Financial Advisor Confidence Outlook survey. Experts say this is a dangerous state of affairs.
November 13
