Despite predictions to the contrary, mutual funds are still the investment of choice for Canadian advisors who hold their Certified Financial Planner designation.

At the same time, planners expressed widespread and substantial interest in products such as separately managed accounts and hedge funds.

These are just two of the fourteen key findings from a recent survey conducted by Credo Consulting Inc., in conjunction with Financial Planners Standards Council (FPSC), in its investigation of the preferences of CFP professionals. The

The survey findings and Credo’s recommendations for how to market to planning-oriented advisors are offered in a new study entitled The Support, Tools and Services Financial Planners Value Most — Understanding the CFP Professional. The study was released today.

“Even though alternative products have been at the forefront of the marketing parade for the past number of years, we were interested to note that financial planners are by no means abandoning mutual funds. With the market turnaround, clients have a renewed interest in the equity markets and mutual funds are comfortable for both investors and advisors,” said Cynthia Enns, the study author and partner at Credo Consulting Inc., in a news release.

Of the 529 CFP professionals that completed the survey, 89% use mutual funds (outside of wrap programs). What’s more, these advisors hold an average of 54% of client assets in mutual funds, which is substantially greater than the average allocations to other types of investments. Looking forward, a significant 44% of current users indicated plans to increase their usage of mutual funds and a further 31% plan to maintain their current usage level.

According to Enns, “For planning-oriented advisors, it’s less about the specific investment choice and more about helping a client achieve their goals. However, both traditional investment products like mutual funds as well as more alternative product choices play a role in this process.”

The report represents a comprehensive analysis of what planning-oriented advisors really want from asset managers and distributors today. In addition to investment usage trends, the study also examines the biggest challenges planning-oriented advisors are facing today, and the types of asset manager capabilities, wholesaler support and other services that CFP professionals value the most.