RIAs headed into the new year happier than ever, according to a new survey.
The latest TD Ameritrade RIA Sentiment Survey is registering record levels of optimism among financial advisors.
More than half of the 306 independent registered investment advisors surveyed say they “feel good” about the global economy, and 69 percent say they’re optimistic on the U.S. economy. Fifteen percent of the survey’s respondents felt “very optimistic” about the economy, the highest level it has ever recorded.
What’s more, 80 percent of the respondents expect to grow their AUM in 2017, according to Jersey City, N.J.-based TD Ameritrade Institutional, with more than half, 52 percent, expecting their AUM to grow faster in 2017 than it did in 2016.
RIAs are feeling bullish about the U.S. stock market, with 53 percent expecting stock prices to increase. The respondents indicated that they expect stocks from the financial sector to do particularly well under the incoming administration of Donald Trump, with 80 percent expecting the sector to fare better in 2017 than it did last year.
Not that 2016 was a bad year for RIAs—60 percent of them reported revenue increases, 56 percent said they had grown their clientele and 70 percent said that client assets increased.
Almost one-third of the respondents’ new clients came from full-commissioned brokers. Self-directed investors were also a significant source of new clients.
Chief areas of concern include interest rates, named by 89 percent of respondents, and corporate earnings, named by 88 percent of the respondents, due to their potential impact on client portfolios.
RIAs are also keeping a watchful eye on the income administration and to the rise and fall of oil prices, according to the survey.
More than 80 percent of the respondents said that they were not at all concerned about the ability of robo-advisors to upend their client base.