Almost a quarter of wealthy individuals rely on independent financial advisers in their financial planning, rather than on bankers and accountants, a new report has found.
The Future Wealth Report, by the wealth consultancy The Scorpio Partnership, revealed that 24% of wealthy individuals surveyed said they would rely on a financial adviser as one of their top three reference points in their financial planning.
This preference was driven by the need to receive good financial advice quickly and efficiently. The report states that in general, the future wealthy are busy people who, while they want to take decisions in relation to their money, have difficulty finding the time to research those decisions by themselves.
Almost none of those surveyed listed private bankers, accountants, or lawyers among those they would turn to first for financial advice.
This may be linked to the fact that many private banks take commission on selling certain financial products, and continue to sell those products even under adverse market conditions as opposed to moving their client’s holdings into less risky cash investments.
Almost 50% of those surveyed indicated that another possible source of financial advice would be a family member, and 30% said they would rely on a friend.
‘All the evidence from the future wealthy indicates that they want advisers who take time to understand their circumstances, and are there for the long haul,’ stated the report.
*Source: ‘The Future Wealth Report’ by the Scorpio Partnership and Standard Chartered Private Bank. Based on survey of 1,414 individuals worldwide with average wealth of £1.2m
