Despite conflict in the Middle East, a global energy shock, geopolitical realignment and interest rate uncertainty, financial advisers remain optimistic about what can be achieved in the years ahead. According to Natixis Investment Managers' 2026 Finance Adviser's survey, investment professionals still expect to grow assets under management by 11.9% over the next year and are projecting an average annual asset growth of 12.8% over the next three.

However, it won't be easy. In order to meet these growth targets advisers will need to contend with a range of structural challenges facing the industry from new technologies, to new competition, to ageing demographics, and it can be hard to tell which hurdles need to be cleared first if advisers are going to succeed.

Natixis IM surveyed 2,950 investment professionals across 23 countries, providing insight into adviser's growth strategies, their challenges, and how they are adapting their business to market fluctuations. 

Keeping clients invested in uncertain times

As advisers look to respond to the current volume and velocity of change, one of the first things they will need to address is retaining assets they've already earned, as 74% of advisers report that clients feel unnerved by current market uncertainty and want to hold more cash as a result.

This will not be an easy job, as investor concern has been growing for some time and market narratives can lead clients to make rash decisions. A result, advisers say reacting emotionally to headlines is the number one mistake investors are making (58%). Advisers also recognise emotions can run high on good news as well as bad. With markets hitting record highs and Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) from SpaceX and OpenAI, advisers caution that chasing returns and market timing (49%) can be a costly mistake, as are unrealistic return expectations (50%).

Finding opportunities and efficiencies in Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Of all the potential disruptions facing advisers, artificial intelligence may have the greatest impact on client portfolios and advisory practices. When it comes to the market, few advisers see AI-fuelled growth slowing anytime soon. In fact, three in four advisers (76%) believe the AI trade still has a long way to run and 69% think AI has the potential to drive markets for the next 20 years.

In terms of their own practices, AI usage is also ramping up. 80% think those who adopt AI will have a competitive advantage and even at this early juncture, 71% of advisers say they are already implementing this new technology in their practice. Overall, 74% say AI can free them up to spend more time with clients, with 61% saying they are using AI to write emails, take meeting notes and send out educational materials. Many are also finding that AI can help streamline the investment decision-making process, with 56% using it to summarise market commentary and economic data and 40% deploying AI for portfolio and risk analysis.

There is clear potential for AI to drive efficiency and a firm appetite to match, as 48% report feeling pressured by their firm to use AI. However, a majority (68%) say implementing AI into their existing workstreams has been more challenging than expected.

Digitalisation is changing advisers' competition base

Even if it may enhance adviser capabilities, the increasing sophistication of AI models are also posing a significant competitive threat. Roughly half of Millennials (49%) and 40% of Gen Xers¹ say they prefer digital advice to traditional in-person models. 47% of Millennials and 41% of Gen Xers are also most likely trust algorithms when getting financial advice. 

As a result, advisers predict that in five years' time, improved tools for self-directed investors will be their biggest competition (43%) compared to only 11% who think they will be competing with other advisers.

Biggest competition

However, only 30% believe it will put them out of business. While it may be tempting to turn to an AI agent for advice, 73% of advisers say investors are taking unnecessary risks in doing so. One probable concern may be the quality of the prompts that individuals enter into AI systems, and the propensity for AI to hallucinate. As such, advisers are quick to differentiate the service they provide. Overall, 82% say they are focusing on personal relationships and their fiduciary responsibility when they position their value for clients compared to AI.

Adapting to a changing client base

Advisers have good reason for concern about the digital threat, especially when they look to add younger investors to their client rosters. As with many populations around the world, an ageing client base presents a longer-term challenge to firms as the interest of older investors alter and wealth changes hands.

Yet, younger clients are still under-represented in adviser practices, with those under 45 making up just over one-third of the base. Advisers know they need new strategies to win younger investors: 43% are integrating digital tools into their offering and 44% are adding specialised services that appeal to this new client base, such as strategies for getting on the property ladder and student debt management.

When it comes to prospecting, advisers are also starting to explore new avenues, with one-third (33%) now using social media as a way to reach a younger client base.

Younger clients. Younger advisers

It's not just clients who are getting older. Advisers are also ageing out of the industry, forcing many to consider how key issues like business valuation and succession planning will impact their exit strategies.

Nearly eight in ten (77%) of advisers globally say this wave of adviser retirements is a significant opportunity to grow business. Yet this transition requires specialised business planning. When asked what the best model is for transitioning a practice, the overwhelming preference is for naming an internal successor (62%). However, 51% say that they are struggling to hire younger advisers to replace those retiring.

Darren Pilbeam, Head of UK Sales Natixis IM, said: "Advisers are facing a number of disruptors as the industry contends with short term challenges presented by an uncertain market as well as larger structural shifts as a result of AI, digital competition, ageing clients and a wave of industry retirements. In the near term they will need to focus efforts on reassuring investors facing uncertainty, but to succeed in the long run the number one factor for advisers will be demonstrating the value they bring that goes beyond asset allocations." 

Natixis Investment Manager's global report on the findings of its 2026 survey of Financial Advisers can be found here.