One in three respondents in a survey of 4,000 retail investors across wealth tiers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore indicated they do not have a financial adviser.
Nearly 40% of mass retail investors do not have access to financial advice, but among those investors that do have access, three in 10 across all wealth tiers do not use them.
About 30% have a consultative relationship with their financial adviser, but prefer to make their own final investment decisions.
“Only 4% of Asian investors are fully reliant on their financial advisers to make their investment decisions,” said Cerulli senior analyst Shu Mei Chua, who led the report.
The under-reliance on financial advice is connected to the way Asian investors obtain their investment information.
“Our survey showed that financial websites are the main source of information for ‘do-it-yourself investors’. They also like to gather investment information by reading the papers,” said Yoon Ng, Asia research director.
These findings should also be viewed in the context of another Cerulli survey in October that showed a majority of retail investors have inadequate investment knowledge and understanding of mutual funds.
