Retirement income providers that clearly understand retirement income issues, demonstrate their leadership position and help advisors manage and invest for income will have a leg up on the competition, according to a national study of registered financial advisors announced Monday by Cogent Research.
Cogent surveyed some 400 advisors, each with at least $25 million under management, a minimum of 25% of assets comprising retirement income planning services and at least five years' tenure as a financial advisor about their use and interest in retirement income products.
Researchers asked advisors to name companies that offered retirement income products, Meredith Lloyd Rice, senior project director and co-author of the report, told AdvisorOne in a telephone interview. They then asked how likely advisors were to consider investing client assets with those providers.
Finally, the researchers listed several attributes and asked respondents to associate them with providers. Advisors chose thought leadership—a broad category that includes white papers, market commentaries and the like, according to Lloyd Rice—as most important, followed by leadership as a product provider and best able to help advisors invest client assets.
