Curian Capital Releases Results of 2010 Advisor Outlook Survey

Curian Capital, LLC (www.Curian.com) recently surveyed more than 1,800 independent financial advisors in an effort to gauge how the market downturn impacted their practices during 2009 and determine how it will shape their priorities for the year ahead. The findings, released today, reveal that advisors made substantial changes in their practices last year, in terms of both client relationship management and portfolio construction. However, despite the challenges of 2009, 68 percent of advisors define their 2010 business mindset as one of acceleration and growth.

The survey, titled "2010 Outlook for Advisor Priorities,” was designed to help Curian better understand how the product selection and business development support needs of advisors will change in the year ahead. Curian provides a fee-based managed account platform for financial professionals, and also offers extensive practice management, business development and educational support for advisors.

Part one of the survey asked respondents to revisit 2009 and report how their client interactions were affected by the downturn. The findings reveal that most advisors feel investor emotions impacted their ability to manage clients’ portfolios and led them to increase the frequency and duration of their client meetings. The survey results also show that market volatility increased client demand for more conservative investments and guaranteed income, prompting advisors to adopt a more tactical approach to portfolio construction.

Looking ahead to 2010, while most advisors expect to grow their business this year, only 10 percent of respondents feel their business strategy is currently sound, while a third know their business model needs to change but are uncertain how. The majority of respondents feel that marketing, cross-selling and business plan development are valuable forms of support that can help them achieve growth.

"While the downturn clearly had a significant impact on advisors and investors, our survey results show that advisors responded proactively to the challenge by spending more time with clients and finding new ways to help them meet their financial goals in an extremely volatile environment,” said Michael Bell, president and CEO of Curian Capital. "With the new focus on managing client emotions and increasing communication, advisors may have lost sight of their own strategic business planning objectives to some degree, but they remain optimistic about the coming year. Curian is prepared to offer the support and resources to help advisors achieve continued progress and growth in 2010.”

Other key findings from the survey include:

• 78% of respondents have changed the way they interact with clients during the past year;
• 88% of advisors feel investor emotions impacted their ability to effectively manage client portfolios;
• More than half of advisors report that their clients have modified their expectations of retirement lifestyle or plan to delay retirement;
• More than half of respondents have adopted a more tactical approach to portfolio construction;
• 68% of respondents describe their business mindset for 2010 as one of acceleration and growth, but only 56% have a strategic plan in place to grow their business; and
• Only 10% of advisors feel their business strategy is sound and does not need to change.

"Most advisors responding to our survey indicate that their clients’ goals and priorities have changed dramatically since the downturn. As a result, advisors have had to make a fundamental shift in their approach to portfolio construction, client interaction and practice management,” said Chris Rosato, senior vice president of strategic development for Curian. "The advisors who recognize the need for change and seek out new solutions for meeting their clients’ needs will be the most successful in the coming year.”

In addition to conducting an annual survey, Curian holds regular forums with advisors to gather feedback on the key challenges representatives are facing. The 2010 survey findings are consistent with the sentiments expressed by advisors who participated in the 120 sessions the firm has hosted during the past 12 months. The input collected from the survey data and in-person meetings allows Curian to address specific issues and suggestions from advisors in the firm’s practice management support programs.

Curian distributed its 2010 Advisor Outlook Survey to independent advisors via e-mail in November 2009. Results were collected via Zoomerang, and 150 broker-dealers are represented among the 1,804 respondents. To request a copy of the executive summary, please contact Andrew Silver at (303) 224-7542 or andrew.silver@curian.com.

For more information about the Curian platform and the company’s professional development and practice management capabilities, registered investment advisors, broker-dealers and financial institutions can visit www.curian.com or contact the Curian Sales Desk at (877) 847-4192.

About Curian Capital

Curian Capital, LLC (www.Curian.com) is a registered investment advisor providing innovative fee-based separately managed accounts to financial professionals through a state-of-the-art technology platform. The company has $3.3 billion in assets under management as of 9/30/09, and ranks among the top 10 third party managed account vendors in the industry by AUM (source: Cerulli Associates).

Curian Capital is an indirect subsidiary of Prudential plc (NYSE: PUK), a company incorporated and with its principal place of business in the United Kingdom. Prudential plc and its affiliated companies constitute one of the world's leading financial service groups. It provides insurance and financial services directly and through its subsidiaries and affiliates throughout the world. It has been in existence for over 160 years and had more than $403 billion in assets under management as of 6/30/09. Prudential plc is not affiliated in any manner with Prudential Financial, Inc., a company whose principal place of business is in the United States of America.