Financial Planners & Investment Advisers Industry Profile

Companies in this industry provide customized investment advice and financial planning services. Major companies include US-based Ameriprise Financial and AXA, and units of diversified financial services companies such as Morgan Stanley, as well as AMP Limited (Australia) and IGM Financial (Canada).

The value of assets under management (AuM) worldwide, an indicator of demand for financial planning and investment advice services, is about $85 trillion, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Global AuM is forecast to exceed $145 trillion by 2025, a growth rate of 6.2% per year, with stronger performances in Latin America and Asia/Pacific.

The US industry includes about 19,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $40 billion.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Aging populations, the shift to defined contribution retirement savings plans, and frothy markets in recent years are fueling growth of assets under management and demand for investment advice. Competing with independent financial planners and investment advisers for clients are Wall Street brokerage firms switching from a sales business model to a fee-for-service business model on retirement accounts, as well as CPAs with Certified Financial Planner designations. The proliferation of free online tools (sometimes called robo advisers) is proving popular among cost-conscious investors. As investors become more comfortable with digital financial advice, some 200-plus providers of digital advice in the financial planning profession in the US are predicted to manage $7 trillion in assets by 2025, ...