The study captures the clearest evidence to date of a historic generational shift that is currently unfolding in the wealth management space. Noting distinct differences between Millennials and other generational groups on indicators such as overall satisfaction, economic outlook, advisor and firm loyalty, and advocacy/referrals, this year's study suggests that advisory firms will need to tailor their offerings to the unique needs of this growing customer base.

Following are some of the key generational findings in the study:

• Millennial money in motion: An alarming 48% of emerging affluent Millennials indicate they will definitely or probably leave their current provider in the next 12 months versus only 8% of other investors. While emerging affluent Millennials still represent just 8% of the overall available investable asset pool, they represent 55% of assets held by investors who are currently at risk of leaving their current investment firm.
• Evolving investor needs: Today, just 54% of full service investors have a documented financial plan and while those plans generally address retirement planning, these investors are much less likely to feel they are addressing other financial goals that are a higher priority for Millennials (e.g., major purchase or education planning) or for Boomers who are leaving the work force (e.g., capital preservation or estate planning).
• Brave new world of referrals: The firms that are able to create loyalty among Millennial clients today can expect significant ongoing rewards. Among those clients identified as highly likely to recommend, Millennials made more positive recommendations during the past 12 months (an average of 8.1 per client) than did Boomers (3.3 per client) and Gen X (3.7 per client) combined. But advisors and firms need to actively cultivate this referral source: Millennials indicated they would be more likely to provide referrals if their advisor asked (40%) or they were incentivized to do so (39%).
• Risk of channel defection: One-fourth (25%) of full-service Millennial investors have either tried, or are actively using, a robo-advisor platform and 28% of them rate their satisfaction with this platform higher than for their full-service firm. Also, more than one-third (34%) have a secondary self-directed account, suggesting a flexibility and openness to a variety of service models not exhibited by investors in other generational groups. 

Study Rankings

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (838) ranks highest in overall investor satisfaction for a second consecutive year, followed by Fidelity Investments (835) and Edward Jones (833).

The U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study, now in its 15th year, measures overall investor satisfaction with full service investment firms in seven factors (in order of importance): financial advisor; investment performance; account information; product offerings; commissions and fees; website; and problem resolution. This year, overall investor satisfaction is up 15 points to 819 (on a 1,000-point scale) from 2016.

The study was fielded in January 2017 and is based on responses from more than 6,500 investors who make some or all of their investment decisions with a financial advisor.