Risk Management Has Become The No. 1 RIA Concern As Clients Worry About Market Volatility

Seven out of 10 RIAs say risk management is now the top concern of their clients, according to a survey by Invesco and Cogent Research. Only 6% cited wealth accumulation as their clients’ primary goal.


Nearly six in 10 RIAs agreed that market volatility has led their clients to become more risk averse in the past year.


Managing risk is the top concern of 45% of RIAs in portfolio construction, followed by wealth preservation with 24%, exceeding a performance benchmark with 12%, and delivering absolute return with 10%.


Many RIAs are responding to the new risk environment by using both active and passive investments, often adding active mutual funds and ETFs.


RIAs expect to increase their use of ETFs by 36% by 2014, from 22% of client portfolios to 30% in 2014.


Still, 39% of RIAs said they don’t have an above-average understanding of ETFs and 53% said they don’t have a high knowledge level of existing ETF products, Invesco said.


They RIA Market Research Study was conducted in September among 206 RIAs with an average of $488 million in investable assets.

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