According to Cerulli’s “U.S. Managed Accounts 2022: The Future of Personalized Portfolios,” assets in managed account programs—including retail accounts—grew nearly 24% in 2021, reaching a high of $10.7 trillion. But how do advisors view the future of these structures? 
Certainly these structures have proliferated in recent years, doubtless driven in no small part by the development/adoption of these solutions by advisory firms, though many advisors continue to see these as little more than “expensive target-date funds.”
In this year’s Summit Insider, we asked nearly 600 advisor-respondents two specific questions regarding both the future of, and potential for, managed accounts:
What is the MOST significant hurdle you see for Managed Accounts?
| Cost | 216 | 38% |
| Participants lack understanding of how they work | 150 | 26% |
| Not many participants use the service | 86 | 15% |
| Added fiduciary oversight of managed account provider | 77 | 14% |
| Target-date or risk-based funds are sufficient | 40 | 7% |
While cost was a dominant consideration, the second and third-most cited aspects had to deal with participant understanding and behaviors—two items that arguably feed on each other, the former standing as an impediment to the latter.
So, how do Summit Insiders see things progressing in the future? Well, it’s a bit of a mixed bag, though the advisory firms themselves seem to have the upper hand.
How do you envision the future of Managed Accounts?
| Offered by the advisor's firm | 244 | 43% |
| Offered jointly by a group of asset managers with no proprietary requirements | 137 | 24% |
| Offered by the plan's recordkeeper | 136 | 24% |
| Offered by an independent firm | 52 | 9% |
Check out the rest of the 2023 NAPA Summit Insider at https://bit.ly/23Summitinsider1
