Once Canadians have chosen their financial advisor, they remain highly loyal. Most people are quite happy. However, the odds of this happening are greater for organisations such as insurance and trust companies, mutual fund dealers and the caisse populaire. The big winners here are independent financial advisors while banks and brokerage firms tend to have the fewest referrals, which may be a signal that they are not doing as good a job of building loyalty within their client base. Women are more likely to turn to a Financial Advisor, more apt to have been replying on one for years, and more likely to turn to banks for such advice.
Women do so as well but also turn to their bank for advice.
Their preference for banks, relative to men, may explain this to some extent, as women tend to use banks more than men do when it comes to financial planning. Women not only like counselling attention, but they also attend to details and want their needs to be understood. In fact, women prefer more in-person contact than men do. Women also like it when their financial advisor takes the initiative to make contact, which suggests a preference for detail and relationship building. Much of the emphasis for women is planning and detail whereas men prefer action.