For the wealthiest investors, the more assets they have the less likely they are to cede control over investment decisions to advisors says a new report from the Institute for Private Investors, a membership organization of ultra-affluent private investors.
The annual Both Sides Now study surveyed 75 families with at least $30 million in assets who are IPI members.
The research showed that 32% of families with up to $50 million in assets felt comfortable giving their advisors complete discretion to make changes to their portfolios. For families with more than $200 million in assets, only 20% said they give their managers complete control. Forty-four percent said they allow limited discretion and 36% said they must approve all decisions.
According to IPI’s data, 61% of these UHNW investors have an in-house chief investment officer, usually a close family member or individual well known to the family. These investors are more likely to hand over the reins. Thirty-six percent said they give up decision making control compared to 10% among families who outsource their investment decisions to a manager.
Of the remaining 90% who outsource the CIO function but don’t cede control, 35% have a non-discretionary manager.
Since the financial crisis, investors have realized they can’t give up responsibility for overseeing their wealth said Mindy Rosenthal, IPI executive director. “We are seeing a clear trend toward investors taking an active role in partnership with the advisor,” Rosenthal said in a statement.
At the same time, only 28% of UHNW investors reported feel confident in their current investment strategy and only 37% said they have seen improvements in financial firms’ business models regarding conflict of interest.
But ultra-affluent investors aren’t the only ones holding back from their advisors. Recent research from Cerulli associates showed that while only 17% of advisors said they believe their clients also hold a direct account, in fact 74% do. That finding is consistent across independent advisory firms, wirehouses and banks.
