JUNE 30, 2025 – Delray Beach, FL – According to the InspereX 2025 Advisor Pulse Outlook Survey of 829
financial advisors, the top three sources for new clients in 2025 are all
referral-based, with unsolicited referrals leading the way by a significant
margin.
More than three-quarters of financial
advisors (76%) report that receiving referrals without asking has resulted in
attracting new clients in 2025. The next
most effective sources of new client acquisitions are asking existing clients
for referrals (38%) and receiving referrals from other professionals (38%).
Despite the heightened focus on the
“Great Wealth Transfer” that will occur as members of the Baby Boomer
generation pass down their life savings to their Gen X, Gen Z and Millennial children,
most advisors (57%) admit they don’t yet have relationships with the children
of most of their clients.
“The power of the referral continues to drive growth for
advisors,” said Chris Mee, InspereX Managing Director, Head of WMS Wholesaled
Distribution.
“It says everything about the importance of service, communications, and
commitment – clients appreciate it and reward their advisors with referrals.”
Mr. Mee continued: “Periods of market volatility create an
opportunity for advisors to proactively offer their expertise to the adult children
of their clients, even if just as a courtesy or to answer questions about the
markets. If your clients are worried about the markets, their adult children
may be as well. Establishing a relationship with the next
generation of your clients built on education and insight could be a worthwhile
investment for advisors seeking to retain assets that will be changing hands
over the next two decades.”
Volatile Markets and Anxious Clients a
Challenge
With trade and geopolitical tensions
fueling an uptick in market volatility throughout much of 2025, advisors report
that the biggest challenges facing their practice include:
·
Calming
anxious clients (23%)
·
Keeping up
with the market changes (23%)
·
Communicating
value to clients (15%)
·
Communicating
value to prospects (9%)
Against this backdrop, the activities
that are taking up most of their time are:
·
Proactively
reaching out to clients (34%)
·
Managing
portfolios (21%)
·
Responding to
client concerns (17%)
·
Prospecting
and marketing (15%)
·
Internal planning
or operations (10%)
Notably, when asked to identify what
portfolio strategies clients are requesting more now than in previous years,
32% of advisors said clients are seeking options that will add downside
protection to portfolios, 17% said there is heightened interest in alternative
investments, and 14% said they’re receiving more requests for access to private
credit.
“It’s great to see advisors working
closely with clients through this period of heightened market uncertainty, but waiting to hear from the children of your clients might best be
described as the triumph of hope over experience. Advisors need to be more proactive if they
want to retain client assets across generations.”
About the Survey – View Survey Report
InspereX is the tech-driven fixed income and structured products
distribution and trading firm. The InspereX Pulse 2025 Outlook Survey was
conducted between May 12-19, 2025 by Red Zone Marketing on behalf of InspereX.
The 829 financial advisor respondents work at independent broker/dealers, RIAs,
banks, regional firms and wirehouses. During the survey period, the S&P 500
high was 5968.61, the low was 5786.08 and it closed at 5963.60 on May 19.
About
InspereX
InspereX was founded in
1999 by Tom Ricketts, now our Chairman as well as the Executive Chairman of the
Chicago Cubs. We pioneered delivering innovative, institutional-quality
strategies and offerings to the retail market, and we’re now an industry leader
in underwriting, marketing, and distributing a wide range of fixed income
investments, structured products, and ETFs. Our ground-breaking investments,
distribution, education, and technology have been recognized with dozens of
awards. InspereX represents more than 400 issuing entities, distributes to more
than 1,500 partners, and has distributed more than $800 billion in new issue
securities. The firm has seven trading desks and more than 180 employees with
offices in Delray Beach, Florida; Santa Monica, California; Charlotte, North
Carolina; Chicago, IL; and New York, NY.
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