These awards recognize the asset managers, DC plan record keepers and other business partners that advisors consider most valuable to their day-to-day practice. The 2022 Financial Advisor IQ Service Awards are based on the voting results of 742 financial advisors across brokerage, RIA, insurance and other channels that were surveyed between April and June.
We divided asset managers into three tiers, using mutual fund and ETF assets as a rough proxy for the size of each manager’s advisor-facing business, even when the company has a larger institutional business.
Top vote-gatherers were awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.
The quality of a manager’s sales team is highly important, advisors have told Ignites Research in prior surveys. By providing quality customer support, including responding to questions and requests efficiently, and taking a consultative approach rather than a transactional one, asset managers can boost their perception among advisors. For the second year in a row American Funds placed first among large managers for best sales and relationship management teams, with 43% of advisors identifying the firm as “excellent” in this area, compared with 55% last year.
Managers can appeal to advisors by showing that they consider advisors' needs and by communicating changes around those product offerings. American Funds is the second-most popular manager in this regard with 44% of advisors identifying its product lineup management as excellent. This year, American Funds slipped from first place. Blackrock took gold receiving just a shade more votes at 45% of advisors.
As the nature of work continues to shift to digital spaces, there is growing opportunity for advisors to form opinions of asset managers based on their content and commentary. Indeed, white papers, portfolio managers’ letters, podcasts, videos and macro commentary have more potential to shape advisor opinions of managers now than in the past. In 2022, American Funds is perceived as the top producer of videos and podcasts, portfolio managers’ letters, white papers, and overall commentary. In the macro commentary arena American Funds is second only to BlackRock.
More than a quarter of advisors said they would recommend target date funds from American Funds, placing the firm in first place, ahead of Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and BlackRock.
Recordkeeping was another area where American Funds stood out from other managers. In identifying recordkeepers that are outstanding in price, client service, and overall, American Funds received more advisor votes than any other firm. American Funds also came third for cybersecurity and privacy, behind Empower Retirement and Fidelity.
*The respondents in survey groups in 2021 and 2022 overlapped but were not identical.