401(k) advisors looking to build a trusted brand might want to examine what the following firms are doing right, and then implement it (within reason) in their own practices.
Hearts & Wallets found Charles Schwab, Edward Jones, SunTrust, USAA and Vanguard among top financial industry trust earners, especially when it comes to investors’ intent to invest more assets and make recommendations to friends and family.
Bank of America, Capital One, and Fidelity also earned high marks, specifically in the brokerage space.
However, it found financial services institutions in general have “room to improve on trust, with less than half of U.S. households placing high trust in their primary or secondary stores (firms where they have the most money).”
Top performers as primary sources of retirement advice are Edward Jones, Morgan Stanley and Ameriprise with Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Merrill Lynch following closely.
Bank of America leads all providers as having the most relationships with U.S. households. Nationally, banks have the broadest access to consumers, reaching seven of 10 consumer households who have a relationship with a bank, and four in 10 consumer households nationally cite a bank as their primary source of retirement advice.
“Bank of America’s reach into U.S. consumer households is growing thanks to how it helps consumers easily understand options for service tiers of self, mid-level and full-service with its Bank of America, Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch sub-brands,” Laura Varas, CEO and founder of Hearts & Wallets, said in a statement.
Single women—never married, divorced and widowed of all ages—total about 20 percent of all customers across leading firms. Edward Jones is the top performer among this demographic. Single women tend to be generally more discerning, giving lower Hearts & Wallets scores to almost every store than overall national customers do.
“Hearts & Wallets believes ‘female’ is only a broad starting point for a customer type,” Vargas added. “Women living on their own may be an interesting design persona to develop solutions or tailor marketing, with additional variables to provide actionable insight.”