A lot is going on! Inflation is at record highs, markets are down, Russia and China are center stage of geopolitical instability, and there is talk of a recession. Just released 2022 survey data reveals the top consumer attitudes, sentiments, concerns and goals, so you can see whats top of mind for your customers and where the opportunities lie. Here are a few stats: 46% of US households have high concern about inflation. And 1/3rd of these consumers are holding more than 90% of their assets in cash as buying power erodes. But more and more consumers feel their advisor is a partner to them, underscoring the value of advice and guidance in the face of the current headwinds. Read more

This report looks at common gaps seen in lower level advice and guidance experiences, and how the leading experiences match the realities and challenges of real life. Topics covered include modeling for spouses, partners, and dependents; employment patterns and changing jobs; unplanned life events; optimizing taxes for the long term, and more. Read more

Of all the points along the customer journey, receiving advice is one of the most important. And as consumers increase the number of relationships they have with financial services providers, advice experiences need to do more to remain competitive. This report looks at a number of today's top advice trends, associated best practices, and what you should consider as you structure your advice tools and interactions. Read more

There is power to planning - planners save and invest more, find fewer financial tasks challenging, have more diversified and appropriately allocated portfolios, and are more confident in their financial situation. This report looks at who plans by generation, lifestage, wealth group and marital status. It also looks at what inspires a consumer to plan and the most common resources used. Read more

This report explores the drivers of share of wallet (SOW). Learn which customers are most likely to invest more, and how being the main source of retirement advice can influence their decision. Also, we cover why SOW is so important competitively and who is leading the race. Read more

This report "Expectations from Workplace vs. Retail Advice" is sourced from the Hearts & Wallets Explore Qualitative™ Database. It looks at the attitudes of older affluent investors towards financial planning and investment services provided through the workplace compared to those of the retail market. It is part of the broader Explore Qualitative™ Series "Shopping for Advice on Aging Gracefully" - a collection of exercises and concept tests focused on the drivers of older consumers moving money, the changing needs of an aging population, and industry questions about pricing of advice for this segment. Additionally, the report covers various consumer segments on the Inside Advice^® Grid to help gain an understanding of behaviors relating to advice and guidance. Learn more

This report covers the demographic breakdown of household wealth in America. U.S retail investors control $68.3T in investable assets. This is at an all time high but there is an unprecedented concentration of wealth in higher asset households. Learn who controls the wealth by life stage and asset level through the Portrait Grid™. This research is the foundation of all market sizing at Hearts & Wallets. This report covers the demographic breakdown of household wealth in America and features the Hearts & Wallets Portrait Grid™. Learn who controls the wealth by life stage and asset level Read more

The past year has many investors rethinking their plans. This report explores changes in target retirement ages; aspirations and reality for income replacement rates and the importance of advice; anticipated sources of retirement income for those approaching retirement compared to actual sources for those already retired; and a profile of the "Aspire to Retire by 55" group. Key Findings Include: - Even as more households want to “work full time as long as health permits,” target retirement dates are moving younger. - Ambitions for replacement rates have increased, but assets-to-income ratios show most people are still very unprepared for the end of full-time work. - Future retirees anticipate combining more sources of income than current retirees. The more income sources consumers have, the more value they see in paying for advice. - More households report participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. More generous matches increase overall household saving rate, especially at lower income levels. Saving into employer plans is up. - There are about 11M households in the “Aspire to Retire by 55” design target. Well positioned in some ways, these households need help to achieve this goal. Read more

The language of investing is complex. Despite all the efforts within the industry to simplify it and make investing concepts more easily understood, we are failing. Investors are still confused - 81% consumers lack financial fluency. This report looks at the language of investing and who does and does not understand it; how workplace plan participants are particularly challenged; and the implications of confusion and the associated opportunities. Read more

Older Americans are looking for help on a broad range of topics, but most depend on retail sources of advice vs. what is offered through the workplace. Find out why. Learn the biggest complaints, suggestions, and possible solutions for bridging the gap between wants and current workplace offerings. Read more

Fintech and robo-advisor solutions are everywhere. They have dramatically increased their awareness and trial, but as currently structured, they are not capturing the mass-market. Also, digital advice is not just for early adopters as more Americans are seeking resources that enable more control. The thousands of competitors and new entrants, combined with different user profiles, make it difficult to evaluate where the opportunities lie. This report provides the latest information and data on how investors are blending technology and live advice solutions, where the money is going for new entrants and consumer needs that will likely present future opportunities in fintech. Read more

The annual Portrait™of U.S. Household Wealth gives you the power to size segments of U.S retail investors and understand the demand for solutions in the context of the total market. This sizing report provides new data on consumer households and the assets they control by age, wealth groups, lifestage and generation, drawn from government resources and the Hearts & Wallets Investor Quantitative™ Database. This year's report features market sizing on women, the retirement income market and emerging savers. Read more

“Elder Financial Care” provides insights into the future dynamics of periodic vs. subscription. This concept test provokes price discovery by first presenting two separately priced options with distinct features and then a blended option with ambiguity in payment mechanisms. Segmentation is by desired scope of advice among older, affluent investors who are shopping for advice. Read more

Understand financial pain points that can shape products and services to support action taking. This report analyzes the level of difficulty consumers have with key financial tasks, rates of seeking help, and actions consumers are taking and plan to take in the future. Read more

Get the full picture on consumer goals, sentiments, concerns and attitudes toward saving and investing to guide strategy and inform decisions. Read more

“Home Conversion Mortgage” aka Reverse Mortgage explores awareness and receptivity to using mortgages for aging in place, employing a disguised name to avoid pre-conceived notions about reverse mortgages. Learn more

This report analyzes household involvement in inheritances, incidence of small funded trust accounts and impact on a variety of attitudes and wants. Find out what types of family conversations about money are occurring and who is driving them. See quantifiable benefits of partner retirement planning. Read more

This report provides actionable insights and greater visibility into transaction dynamics both at origin and destination for a full picture of opportunities and potential threats. Transactions covered include new deposits in new accounts, transfers, rollovers and cashouts from employer plans. Life events and the factors motivating money movement are analyzed. Read more

Trends covered in this report include changes in the age of stopping work, working part-time, the role of real estate as both a big spending type and an asset. The importance of human capital and blending income sources comes to life in a pre/post-retirement spending analysis, metrics on changes in consumer saving behaviors, and discussion of shortcomings of traditional retirement preparedness metrics. Read more

This Explore Qualitative™ Report examines the top reasons consumers say they keep cash, and what could motivate them to move cash into investments. It is an Explore Exercise, meaning it is a structured exploration of a topic that is emerging as strategically important to help identify future actions. The series of which this report is part, Shopping for Advice on Aging Gracefully, explores the increase in older consumers moving money, changing needs of an aging population, and industry-level questions about pricing of advice and high levels of cash. The demographic for this series is investors ages 53-70 with >$500K investable assets (>$250K outside workplace) who are actively involved in money movement, segmented by Desired Scope and Service Ranges on Inside Advice® Grid. As with all Explore Qualitative™ Reports, the underlying data in this report are consumer comments. Read more

This highly sought-after report is Hearts & Wallets' annual market sizing study. The Portrait Grid™ is the foundation for sizing market opportunities. Gain actionable estimates of households and investable assets for the addressable U.S. retail investor market. Size by lifestage and generation, or with fact-based sizing exercises on personal advice shoppers. This report draws from the Hearts & Wallets IQ Database, which contains consumer buying pattern insights on 45,000 U.S. households, as well as U.S. Census Bureau, Survey of Consumer Finances, Federal Reserve Flow of Funds and Hearts & Wallets analysis. Read more

This report presents findings from the latest cycle of Inside Advice® Benchmarking. It includes the popular Top 10 Trends in advice and guidance, a resource for many senior management discussions with key insights, trends and best practices on financial wellness, personalization, pricing and other findings. This report presents aggregated benchmarks by service level and selected analysis of workplace vs. retail. Read more

Know your market. This highly sought-after annual market sizing provides estimates for current and projected total households and investable assets for the addressable U.S. retail investor market. These essential building blocks help to prioritize initiatives. The analysis draws from government data, Hearts & Wallets Investor Quantitative™ Database fields and expert Hearts & Wallets proprietary analysis. Learn more