Recorded at the FSI OneVoice 2022 Presented by:
Advisorpedia interviewed Chris Perry, the president of Broadridge Financial Solutions, at the FSI OneVoice conference in February, 2022.
"We really see four big mega trends, and I really call them mega trends because they're coming at us like a train.
The first one is diversity, equity and inclusion DEI, as people refer to it is not just a moment in time where everybody's paying attention, it's actually a movement. And we really have to get on with, what will we do to change our industry based on this mega trend.
The second one is really around the democratization of investments, and an access to investments and that generational transfer of wealth. So you have this next generation of people who are gaining in their wealth and will inherit trillions of dollars in the future, and they're coming in investments in a very different way with access through the computer.
The third one is really that the tech transformation is driving new asset classes with Bitcoin, and FTEs, these kinds of things are going to change the way in which investors will invest and the industry has to really get on on board with that.
And then I think the fourth one is really the availability of private capital, that's never been available for it's being invested in the industry, investors are actually being drawn to it because the returns look exciting, and they're okay being away from their capital for longer periods of time.
So these four mega trends are really important for FSI and the investment community to be served around them. Broadridge and FSI together jointly sponsor a survey because we really wanted to understand the baseline of where we were with advisors.
We surveyed 30,000 FSI members. And we had about a 1.3% statistical return, which is validated. And it was very interesting what we came back with.
The first thing is 82%, of financial advisor community is male, and 32% are over the age of 65. So we have quite a male, white, elderly group of people there, they're great, they're doing great job, they made a great industry, only 18% are female. And we know our society that we live in is more than 50% of the working public is female gender. And so we're way off, we have a long way to go around that. That was the the first dynamic.
The second dynamic is that in surveying the advisors, they're not engaging with their clients, next generation, whether it's the children or the grandchildren, and 66% of them have said they want to, and they plan to, but they need to find ways to do that. So that's a bit of a set of data.
The last data I would give you is on ethnic background. The industry is basically 90% White industry. And there's only 4% that is African American, and just a little less than that, that is Latino. But 4% is Asian.
So we really have a dynamic where we have to draw, again, the public into this industry. It's a great industry, and it has great opportunities, but we have to do the work to pull in those ethnic background people, younger people, there's only about 18% that are under the age of 45. And that's a challenge. So there's a lot of work to be done and we're on the path to do it."
Resources: Broadridge Financial Solutions
Related: Advocacy Priorities for the Independent Advisor