HNWs seeking a whole of portfolio digital experience
High Net Worth (HNW) investors have increasing access to digital platforms and appreciate the time and reporting burden alleviated from them. However, many struggle to find a solution capable of tracking their entire portfolio.
Praemium commissioned research into the HNW investor with leading research firm Investment Trends. The research showed that more than half of HNWs would welcome the ability to access and manage their whole investment portfolio through a single digital experience. Ultra HNWs are the most likely to be of this view.
Despite having access to a growing set of options for digitally tracking their portfolio performance, only 11% have access to an online digital portal and around 6% a smart device app or investment platform (6%).
Nearly 40% don’t believe a digital experience is important, however, this could be attributed to a lack of understanding of the benefits. Over 50% track their portfolio performance manually using a spreadsheet and a quarter look at each investment separately, unable to gain the benefit of a true picture of their total wealth.
For those HNWs who have their investments managed on a platform the valued benefits included, online access, tax reporting being taken care of, time savings and less paperwork.
The requirements for a digital service varied slightly based on the level of investable assets. The emerging HNW investor (those with $1m to $2.5m in investable assets) desired improvements to a digital service including assistance with tax reporting, scenario testing, automated reporting, and a more user-friendly interface. For the Ultra HNWs greater customisation and improved customer service via email and online chat were desired improvements to a digital service
A third of this group are also prepared to pay their existing digital portal provider more to access a better digital service than switch to a new portal.
The results mirror research into how advisers manage and report on their clients’ wealth that Praemium undertook in 2020 with Investment Trends. This showed that advisers themselves were managing multiple systems and spreadsheets to provide total wealth reporting for clients, spending an additional 2 hours per client to deliver it and believing that it was not possible to deliver a total wealth picture via a single platform.
Praemium’s Chief Commercial Officer commenting on the research “The growing need for a digital experience is becoming increasingly important to investors. However, for both investors and advisers alike there is a lack of awareness around a platform’s ability to offer a digital experience that provides a single view of an investor’s total wealth portfolio.”
“The HNW market is $2.77trn in size and Praemium administers and/or provides consolidated reporting on around 9% of that. To support this unique market-leading position, we’ve worked closely with private wealth advisers and IFAs and invested significantly in our platform to deliver that total wealth picture across a breadth of investment assets and client types via a digital client portal. This possibly explains why more than 40 of Barron’s Top 100 advisers use our technology platform and product solutions” he adds.
With the right platform partner advisers, can effectively deliver an innovative digital experience to their clients that offers digital acceptance for investment changes and applications, customised reporting and an intuitive interface. Additionally by providing total wealth reporting for families and individuals via a digital portal clients will be more informed and engaged with their wealth management and conversations can be focused on strategy and goals rather than administration tasks which will further enhance the value of the adviser in the eyes of the client.
Further information
The Investment Trends HNW Investor Research 2021 is based on a quantitative online survey of 2,275 HNW investors conducted by Investment Trends between August and October 2021. HNW investors are defined as those who have at least $1m in investable assets – net wealth clear of debt, excluding own home, business and super (but including SMSF assets).