U.S. Retail Investor Products and Platforms 2024
Progressing Through the Platform
Establish Relationships With Emerging Investors
- Understand retail investors’ preferences with regard to direct investing platforms and the products they wish to use on them
- Analyze annually updated investor market sizing, with age and wealth tier segmentations
- Explore proprietary sizing of direct-to-investor platforms, including an updated leaderboard and underlying product sizing
- Understand how to serve clients from their first job through their retirement by bringing together numerous service models to serve their evolving needs
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Drew O'Hearn, CFP
Senior Director, Account Management
- Boston HQ +1 617.437.0084
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Summary
This report serves as Cerulli’s guidebook to optimizing firms’ strategies to designing and addressing retail investment platforms. It helps firms better understand retail investors’ preferences with regard to direct investing platforms and the products they wish to use on them.
A Note from the Author
Self-Directed Investors Want Advice—and Are Willing to Pay for It
John McKenna
Research Analyst
Bio →
John McKenna
Research Analyst
John specializes in investor trends and behaviors across different provider and advisory relationships. He contributes to The Cerulli Edge—U.S. Retail Investor Edition series and two annual reports, as well as providing quantitative and qualitative analyses for multiple practices and consulting engagements.
Prior to joining Cerulli Associates, John was an assistant at Harvard Kennedy School of Government, researching philanthropic habits among ultra-high-net-worth Chinese and American benefactors.
Full biography here.
While self-directed investors view themselves as independent, they value human advice. According to our research, more than one in five users of self-directed investment accounts (22%) say that it is important to be able to talk to a human specialist linked with their account, with another 33% saying it is somewhat important to have that capability.
Aside from the importance of speaking with a human specialist, most are willing to pay for the privilege—42% say they would be at least somewhat likely to pay to talk to a human specialist.
However, despite a high demand for human advice within self-directed platforms, just 39% of respondents state that they have ever used one. Those with less than $1 million in investable assets and those who are under the age of 30 have been least likely to opt into this service.
If a full-service provider’s objective of offering self-directed brokerage accounts is to eventually transition these customers into advice relationships, they must make those interpersonal services visible to those clients. Early awareness, through targeted e-mail and notification campaigns at a given milestone, can boost this awareness. With this increased awareness, clients may become more likely to stay in-house for future financial advice.
Understand how to tap into and grow walletshare from this valuable client segment with our latest report, U.S. Retail Investor Products and Platforms 2024.
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