The economic events over the past year have forced US investors to make changes to their financial plans.
Over 50% of the Mass Affluent indicate their short term and long term financial plans have been seriously impacted by the events of the past year. The economic crisis has caused Mass Affluent investors to become much more conservative today than they were one year ago.

One year ago, 21% of investors described themselves as conservative while it is 41% today. Unfortunately, this turn towards conservative investing has left many investors to miss the tremendous gains that have occurred since the March 2009 market bottom. Regardless of whether the market sustains this bounce, investors taking a more conservative stance are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

Investors want to be involved and are taking a more active role in the day-to-day management of their investment portfolios. Investors want to know what is happening with their assets. They do not trust large financial institutions as a whole. When asked recently, two-thirds of investors cited that they liked to be involved in the day-to-day management of their account, a fifty percent increase from 2008 levels.

Investors want a collaborative relationship with their advisor but also desire access to their accounts via online tools. While the use of technology by investors has increased substantially each year, the economic turmoil of 2008 and early 2009 spurred investors to dramatically increase their online usage. This is particularly true in accessing their accounts and in pursuing investment information. For the majority of investors, gone is the day when they hand over their entire portfolio to an advisor and not regularly check in with the advisor and activities in the account.

Mass Affluent investors are fleeing full service brokers. For many investors the economic crisis is linked to the names they consider to be Full Service Brokers. At the same time, financial planning firms have been slowly gaining market share since the outset of the decade. Mass affluent investors using independent financial planners as their primary advisor rose to 22%, from 20% in 2008. The economic crisis has caused households to reassess their financial futures and financial planners may be the appropriate advisor for this time period.

The 2009 Mass Affluent Investor report was fielded in July 2009. 1,498 respondents qualified as defined as those with $100K to $1MM Net Worth, not including primary residence (NIPR). The surveys were completed by the person primarily responsible for making the day-to-day financial decisions within the household.

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