Despite predictions to the contrary, mutual funds are still the investment of choice for most advisors who provide comprehensive financial planning services.

At the same time, planning-oriented advisors expressed widespread and substantial interest in products such as separately managed accounts and exchange-traded funds.

These are just two of the key findings from a recent survey conducted by Financial Research Corp. in its investigation of the advisory practices of members of the Financial Planning Association. The FPA is the membership organization for the financial planning community in the U.S.

The survey findings and FRC’s recommendations for how to market to planning-oriented advisors are offered in a new study entitled Asset-Gathering in Intermediary Channels: Capturing the Allegiance of Planning-Oriented Advisors.

“Mutual funds certainly aren’t shriveling up and dying. When you consider that mutual funds have been a familiar way of investing for the last 15 to 20 years, clients have a high degree of comfort with funds, which makes it easy for advisors to use them to implement planning strategies,” says Christopher Brown, the independent industry consultant who authored the study on behalf of FRC.

Of the 653 FPA-affiliated advisors that completed the survey, 92% use mutual funds (outside of wrap programs). What’s more, these advisors hold an average of 46% of client assets in mutual funds, which is substantially greater than the average allocations to other types of investments.

According to Brown, “For planning-oriented advisors, it’s less about the particular type of investment vehicle and more about what’s the best way to move the client toward his or her goals. At the same time, however, a lot of planners are recognizing the unique role that products like separately managed accounts and ETFs can play in filling out a client’s portfolio.”

Brown says planners are increasingly adopting a ‘core-and-satellite’ approach to portfolio construction. This often entails a core allocation of mutual funds and ETFs complemented by one or more separately managed accounts or specialty mutual funds.

In addition to investment usage trends, the FRC study also examines the biggest challenges planning-oriented advisors are facing today, and the types of services that planners are most interested in receiving from asset managers and broker-dealers.