One in five (20%) clients are “very concerned” that their IFA or financial planner will retire and 26% are “quite concerned”, Investec Wealth & Investment has found.
The study amongst 535 clients revealed that on retirement of their adviser, 61% will retain the same firm and use another professional within the company, 31% said that they will find another adviser for themselves and 8% said they will stop using a financial adviser altogether.
The research revealed that men are much more pessimistic about losing their financial adviser than women, with 52% of men saying they were either "very concerned" or "quite concerned" about the prospect of their adviser retiring, compared to 25% of women.
According to the research, the concern comes as 21% of people believe their financial planner will retire within the next two years and 41% think this will happen within the next five years.
This was backed by other research by Investec Wealth & Investment which surveyed 100 financial advisers and planners about their retirement plans, with 49% stating that they had plans to retire within the next five years. Around two in five (35%) said they planned to retire by the time they turn 50.
Investec Wealth & Investment senior investment director Nick Vaill said: "It is entirely understandable that clients often find themselves worrying about what will happen to their financial investments and affairs when their adviser retires.
"They are concerned about losing the personal attention and expertise they have come to rely on and are worried that any change in personnel could disrupt the continuity of their investment strategies that have been put in place.
He continued: "However, retirement is part of the natural course of life and most financial advisory organisations will have succession plans in place to ensure the smooth transition of a client's financial assets to another qualified professional.
"We have seen the importance of advisers implementing a centralised investment proposition and working in conjunction with a discretionary fund manager to better facilitate the sale of a business or hand over to a new adviser. Advisory models do come with additional administrate burdens and costs which may put off potential acquirers."
This latest research from Investec Wealth & Investment comes after it found that ESG and sustainable investment is set to become even more important for charity investment portfolio management, putting pressure on advisers to enhance their credentials.
