The role of financial advisers is more critical than ever in these economic times, according to Vanguard.
Neil Cowell, head of UK intermediary distribution, and Tania Allerton, head of intermediary adviser sales UK at the asset manager said it has been a challenging year for global financial markets with volatility remaining high.
“In times like these the role of financial advisers to provide support and peace of mind is critical to clients achieving their long-term investment goals,” the pair said.
As a result of this, Vanguard has seen “surging interest” in its adviser support programme, particularly on topics around macro-economics and long-term market performance.
“On the investment side, a lot of attention has focused on multi-asset funds, given the simultaneous drop in the value of equities and bonds over the course of the past year…while rare, these situations are not unheard of,” the pair said.
They added that they strongly believe that the fundamental dynamics of multi-asset investing have not changed, and that balanced multi-asset portfolios of stocks and bonds will retain their position at the core of investor portfolios.
Vanguard has expanded its multi-asset product offering this year, launching two new model portfolio ranges in June, called the LifeStrategy MPS Classic and Vanguard LifeStrategy MPS Global.
“LifeStrategy as a range continues to be our most popular product and has grown market share throughout 2022,” the pair said.
Finally, they added it is worth noting that the end of this year will be the 10th anniversary of the retail distribution review.
“The last decade has been one of considerable change across financial advice.
“However, we believe the industry is in a strong position.”
sally.hickey@ft.com
