Nearly a third of clients disliked having to talk to their adviser remotely during the pandemic, with younger adults especially keen to receive face-to-face, research has shown.
This is among the findings of the latest LV Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor, which has revealed strong support for maintaining some in-person meetings when it comes to the advice process.
LV commissioned Opinium to survey 4,000 nationally representative UK adults in December 2021. When asked about their feelings on how advice has been delivered as a result of the pandemic, 50 per cent said they had been happy to receive advice other than face-to-face.
This was especially true of those aged 65 and over. They said they had become used to more remote communication over the past 18 months, and were comfortable using video calls to speak with their advisers.
But surprisingly, younger adults aged between 18 and 34 were less keen on remote advice.
Some 34 per cent of those in this age group said they had delayed seeing their adviser until they could meet face-to-face, while 22 per cent of advised customers said they had "disliked" not being able to meet in person.
When asked about how they would prefer advice to be delivered in 2022 and beyond, again, respondents had mixed views:
- Meeting their adviser face to face at their office (30%)
- Phone call with their adviser (29%)
- Meeting face to face in the client’s home (28%)
- Video call with their adviser (28%).
According to the report: "A key difference by age group is that the under 35s are keen to communicate with their adviser via texting/WhatsApp (32 per cent, compared with 22 per cent of the total population), whereas over 55s are significantly more likely to want to communicate via email."
ESG
The 11-page Wealth and Wellbeing Monitor report also said environmental, social and governance interest was rising significantly among mass affluent and younger high-earners, signalling a change in how the wealthy want to invest their cash.
Although awareness of ESG investing choices had been low, there was significant appetite among younger adults, higher-earners and the mass affluent to discuss such investing with their advisers.
The respondents indicated they liked the idea of investing along ESG lines, but expressed their need for it to be explained to them by professional advisers.
According to the research, 36 per cent of respondents - equating to approximately 36m of the UK population - thought ESG investing was a "good idea", and 34 per cent said they would want to know more.
Yet 72 per cent of all respondents claimed they had never heard of it before, with only a handful of people with stocks and shares Isas or online investing accounts having come across the term.
But when broken down further, those with investible assets of £100,000 and those who already had an adviser, said they had been aware of ESG and were interested in discussing their options with their advisers.
Clive Bolton, managing director for protection, savings and retirement at LV, said: "The opportunity is definitely there, especially among younger adults, those with higher incomes, and the mass affluent (those with assets of between £100,000 and £500,000, excluding property).
