Investors nonetheless need advisors, whilst AI expands funding selections

The wealth management business has spent years bracing for a second when expertise would possibly displace the human advisor, however in keeping with a serious new research launched this month, that second has not arrived and could also be transferring additional away.

The 2026 Voice of Investor Satisfaction, Trust, and Advocacy (VISTA) research, an unbiased report by KPMG LLP sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), surveyed 2,123 US particular person traders with a minimum of $100,000 in investable belongings.

It discovered that 83 p.c are happy the business is assembly their wants and 82 p.c are happy with their corporations’ moral requirements and accountability. Investors working with monetary advisors – whether or not solely or in a hybrid strategy combining human recommendation with self-directed entry – proceed to report the very best satisfaction and trust of any group.

The findings arrive at some extent of great disruption for the recommendation business. Artificial intelligence has moved from pilot packages to embedded instruments, product alternative has expanded into non-public financial hubs and digital belongings, and youthful traders have entered the market with totally different expectations. But the research’s headline conclusion cuts towards the disruption narrative: the basics of what traders need have held.

“Investor confidence in our business stays robust, and this yr’s outcomes present that it rests on trusted steerage,” stated Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., president and CEO of SIFMA. “Investors are more and more conscious of latest alternatives, however they’re unwilling to commerce away belief and transparency in pursuit of innovation.”

AI enthusiasm is cooling – notably amongst Gen Z

One of essentially the most hanging knowledge factors within the 2026 VISTA research is the sharp decline in belief in AI-only monetary recommendation. Among Gen Z traders – the cohort traditionally most receptive to digital instruments – belief in AI as a major supply of funding recommendation fell from 20 p.c in 2025 to 10 p.c in 2026, in keeping with the KPMG/SIFMA report. Across all generations, belief in monetary advisors as a major supply rose to 52 p.c, up from 50 p.c the prior yr.

At the identical time, the research discovered that 43 p.c of traders say they’re unlikely to modify suppliers on account of enhanced digital and AI capabilities – up from 35 p.c in 2025. Technology, the report concludes, has turn into a baseline expectation somewhat than a differentiating motive to maneuver accounts.

That framing is related for advisors watching platforms compete on AI options. InvestmentNews’s 5-Star Technology awards for 2026 highlighted providers delivering proactive monitoring and AI-powered tools that help advisors make better decisions and strengthen client relationships – a formulation that positions AI as advisor-enablement somewhat than advisor-replacement. The VISTA knowledge helps that framing.

Investors will not be rejecting expertise outright. Hybrid traders – those that mix a monetary advisor with a point of self-directed market entry – reported 87 p.c satisfaction in 2026, up from 85 p.c in 2025, and only one level under the 88 p.c reported by totally advisor-supported traders.

The hole between hybrid and purely self-directed traders, who reported meaningfully decrease satisfaction scores, underscores the worth of holding skilled steerage within the combine whilst digital instruments increase.

Millennials emerge because the business’s belief leaders

Perhaps essentially the most consequential discovering for advisors eager about long-term shopper growth is the place of millennials on this yr’s knowledge. Among advisor-supported millennial traders, 92 p.c reported being happy with the business’s potential to fulfill their wants – the very best mark of any generational phase.

Trust within the business to behave of their finest curiosity reached 85 p.c amongst advisor-supported millennials in 2026, up from 77 p.c in 2025.

Those numbers matter as a result of millennials are positioned to obtain a considerable share of the estimated $84 trillion intergenerational wealth switch already underway. As InvestmentNews has reported, the next-generation wealth wave is forcing advisors to rethink their playbook as millennials and Gen Z reshape the advice relationship. The VISTA knowledge provides a dimension to that image: millennial belief in advisor-supported investing is accelerating.

Gen Z’s trajectory is extra nuanced. That technology positioned transparency on equal footing with funding returns as a prime precedence in 2026 and barely elevated its reliance on monetary advisors as a major funding useful resource, from 39 p.c in 2025 to 42 p.c in 2026. At the identical time, separate research reported by InvestmentNews found that more than half of Gen Z investors have considered switching advisors, suggesting engagement and retention stay energetic challenges whilst curiosity in skilled steerage grows.

Private financial hubs curiosity is actual – however uneven

For the primary time, the 2026 VISTA research examined investor familiarity with non-public financial hubs, digital belongings, and prediction financial hubs. The findings level to real demand, notably amongst youthful cohorts, however with significant friction between curiosity and precise participation.

Among millennials, 65 p.c reported being very or considerably excited about investing retirement financial savings in non-public financial hubs. That determine was 57 p.c amongst Gen Z traders, in keeping with the KPMG/SIFMA report. Both numbers are considerably increased than these for Gen X and Boomers.

Interest, nonetheless, isn’t the identical as motion. The research discovered that issues about danger, complexity, safety, and unfamiliarity stay the first obstacles throughout all three rising funding classes. For monetary advisors, the information identifies a transparent alternative: serving because the educator and danger navigator who bridges the hole between shopper curiosity and shopper confidence.

“Trusted relationships have by no means mattered extra, particularly for Gen Z traders,” stated Nadia Orawski, principal and advisory line of enterprise lead for monetary companies at KPMG LLP.

The research was carried out on-line between July 22 and August 14, 2026, amongst traders with a minimal of 1 yr of investing expertise and first or joint duty for funding selections. The full report is available through SIFMA’s research portal.