Morningstar Investor Perspectives for Advisors: 4 Trends Shaping Client Relationships

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Agostinelli, J. (2026, October 5). Morningstar investor perspectives for advisors: 4 trends shaping client relationships. Morningstar, Inc. https://www.morningstar.com/business/insights/research/investor-perspectives-for-advisors

Morningstar's Investor Perspectives: Financial Advisors survey is based on 501 online responses from US advisors collected between July 21 and August 16, 2026.
The share of advisors reporting AI use rose from 67% in 2025 to 80% in 2026, led by internal productivity tasks such as meeting summaries and email drafts (43%), idea generation (36%), research and due diligence (35%), and client communications (33%).
Advisors reporting that AI significantly or moderately improved their efficiency increased from 36% in 2025 to 48% in 2026, and more now view AI as a help (42%) than a threat (19%).
Nearly half (47%) of advisors agree that AI will have a significant impact on the financial advisory industry and that competition among advisors is extremely fierce.
Advisors spend 53% of their time on client-focused activities but would ideally spend 63%, with 56% citing administrative and operational work as the top barrier to delivering the desired level of advice and service.
The share of advisors discussing fees less than once or twice a year rose from 26% in 2024 to 38% in 2026, while the share of clients reviewing advisor fees monthly or quarterly increased from 30% to 40% over the same period.
Advisors offering private markets to clients increased from 35% in 2025 to 40% in 2026, even as comfort explaining those investments fell from 68% to 61% and fee transparency concerns (46%) topped the barriers to due diligence.