Registered investment advisers say they expect their businesses to grow steadily for the next five years, and a survey released Tuesday said they consider referrals a top driver of growth in this period.
The survey of 51 registered investment advisers who attended Russell Investment Group's annual conference in April showed that 41% expected annual growth of 11% to 20% in assets under management during the next five years and 20% expected 21% to 30% growth.
Eighty percent considered referrals a key driver of growth in the next five years, and 69% considered organic growth a key driver. More than half (59%) also responded that increased marketing or networking would help them achieve growth goals.
The latter result points to a potentially untapped opportunity, given that 33% of the registered investment advisers said they spend less than an hour a day marketing or networking and an additional 50% said they spend only one to two hours a day on it.
Meanwhile, 27% said they spend three to four hours a day on administrative tasks.
Though most advisers mentioned marketing-networking as important for growth, 48% also listed marketing-networking as a key challenge.
