Research
Research library
Research worth an advisor's time from research firms, asset managers, regulators, central banks, academics and think tanks, each with a short summary in our own words, plus AdvisorIQ's own analysis.
As of Oct 8, 2026, the library lists 20 pieces from research firms.
Titles marked with an arrow open on the publisher's site. How we choose.
Retirement income
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What's a Safe Retirement Withdrawal Rate for 2026? (opens morningstar.com)
Morningstar's annual research on how much new retirees can spend from a portfolio, built on forward-looking return and inflation assumptions. The base case for a 30-year retirement is a 3.9% starting withdrawal rate, up from 3.7%, and retirees who accept spending swings can start near 6%.
Topic: Retirement incomemorningstar.com
Estate planning
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As Advisors Move Upmarket, Tax and Estate Planning Technology Gain Momentum (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli finds that as advisors serve wealthier clients, demand is rising for tools that support tax and estate planning. More than half of advisors, 55%, already offer trust and estate planning, and many who lack specialized estate planning software expect to adopt it within a year.
Topic: Estate planningcerulli.com
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Many Investors Expect Inheritances, Yet Few Likely to Maintain Benefactor's Advisor (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli examines how heirs view their benefactors' advisors as more than $120 trillion is set to be inherited over the next 25 years. Most affluent investors expect or have received an inheritance, but only 27% of those expecting one would keep the managing advisor, and the share falls to 20% once the money arrives.
Topic: Estate planningcerulli.com
Portfolio construction
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Active Fund Manager Success Rates Ticked Up in 2026, but Passive Funds Still Hold the Advantage (opens morningstar.com)
The midyear Active/Passive Barometer measures how active US funds fared against passive peers in their categories. Just over 40% of active funds survived and beat their passive composite in the year to June 2026, up 7 percentage points, and the cheapest active funds had better odds in most categories.
Topic: Portfolio constructionmorningstar.com
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The Winning Formula for Fund Investors, and Why Others Left Money on the Table (opens morningstar.com)
Morningstar's annual investor-return study compares what the average dollar in US funds earned with the funds' own returns over the decade through 2025. Investors earned 8.7% a year, about 1.2 percentage points less than the funds, with the widest gaps in more volatile funds and the smallest in allocation funds.
Topic: Portfolio constructionmorningstar.com
ETF strategy
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Financial Advisors Receptive to Outsourced Models, Lean Into Diversification (opens escalent.co)
Escalent's 2026 survey of advisors finds 54% use model portfolios from asset managers, with frequent use rising fastest among advisors under 45. Average ETF allocations fell to 27.5% from 32.6% a year earlier while separately managed account use rose, and allocations to alternatives are expected to grow by 2028.
Topic: ETF strategyescalent.co
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New ETF Launches Far Exceed Closures (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli tracks ETF product development and finds launches still far outpace closures, with nearly 5,000 ETF strategies by the end of 2025. Active strategies made up 84% of 2025 launches, most issuers plan more in 2026, and more than 85% of closures since 2021 were funds under $50 million that never drew advisor demand.
Topic: ETF strategycerulli.com
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The Newest Wave of ETFs Is Leading to Mini Bubbles (opens morningstar.com)
Morningstar examines the record 1,117 ETF launches of 2025 and finds many chase popular themes after big runs. Most were actively managed, nearly half held fewer than 10 stocks, and they charged more than established funds, which the author argues makes diversification and low cost the better guides.
Topic: ETF strategymorningstar.com
Alternatives
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Private Markets Set to Add $2 Trillion in Advisor-Intermediated Assets Over Next Five Years (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli estimates advisors hold about $2.2 trillion in less-than-fully-liquid private capital products and expects that to grow by $2 trillion over five years. Interval funds, other semi-liquid vehicles and alternative allocation models drive the outlook, with client demand for income cited as a main reason.
Topic: Alternativescerulli.com
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Asset Managers Face Distribution Challenges as Alternatives Demand Accelerates (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli surveys how asset managers support advisors who use alternatives. Advisors managing at least $500 million allocate 4.4% to illiquid alternatives and expect 5.7% by 2027, and three-quarters of managers say advisor education is the biggest obstacle to wider use.
Topic: Alternativescerulli.com
Practice management
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Will AI Replace Financial Advisors? Here's How to Prove Your Value to Clients (opens morningstar.com)
A Morningstar behavioral scientist draws on the firm's research into why clients hire advisors: behavioral coaching, goals-based planning and advice that feels personal and reliable. She concludes AI is best used for efficiency, and that uses which make the client relationship feel less personal can do harm.
Topic: Practice managementmorningstar.com
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Advisor Retirements Underscore Need for Stronger Rookie Development (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli finds that about 35% of advisors, managing 40% of industry assets, plan to retire within 10 years, and more than a quarter of them are unsure of their succession plans. Practice management staff cite the time needed to train new advisors as the main hurdle, and Cerulli argues placing rookies on larger teams eases both problems.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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AI Adoption Accelerates, Driving Financial Advisor Loyalty, JD Power Finds (opens jdpower.com)
J.D. Power's 2026 survey of more than 4,500 advisors links effective firm-provided AI tools to higher satisfaction and loyalty. Active AI use rose to 73% among employee advisors and 42% among independents, and teaming is spreading among younger independent advisors.
Topic: Practice managementjdpower.com
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Top 10 priorities shaping the future of wealth management leadership (opens ey.com)
EY summarizes its global wealth management industry report in 10 priorities for firm leaders. It expects pure asset-based fee schedules to get harder to defend, with pricing moving toward complex advice such as tax and succession, and treats AI as a redesign of the operating model rather than an add-on.
Topic: Practice managementey.com
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RIA Consolidation Drives M&A Activity as Market Nears $4 Trillion (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli examines continuing consolidation in the RIA channel, where more than half of firms, 54%, are seeking an acquisition. Retiring advisors, more than 26,000 projected over the next decade, form the largest pool of targets, while breakaway teams are harder to capture because leaving a broker-dealer is complex.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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AI and the New Economics of Wealth Management (opens bcg.com)
A chapter of BCG's 2026 Global Wealth Report arguing that AI changes the economics of advice rather than adding another tool. BCG sees a likely future in which AI-first firms expand advisor capacity without removing the human role, and says firms with unified data can scale AI while those with fragmented systems stall in pilots.
Topic: Practice managementbcg.com
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Affluent Investors' Willingness to Pay for Financial Advice Reaches New Heights (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli tracks how the share of affluent investors willing to pay for advice rose from 38% in 2010 to 68% in 2025. Willingness rises with wealth, reaching 75% among households with $5 million or more, and the firm credits wider access to advice, lower fees and the spread of fiduciary models.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
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Advisors Signal Desire for More Technology and Product Education to Drive Growth in New Study from Broadridge and FSI (opens broadridge.com)
A Broadridge and Financial Services Institute survey of 428 advisors and staff finds 68% are not confident their firm's technology is set up for their growth goals. Most say better tools and training would help them win clients, and 51% use generative AI somewhere in their business, a share that is higher among younger advisors.
Topic: Practice managementbroadridge.com
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US wealth management in 2035: A transformative decade begins (opens mckinsey.com)
McKinsey sketches how US wealth management could change by 2035 as wealth shifts to younger generations and women and AI takes on more of the work. It flags a shortfall of roughly 100,000 advisors as nearly 40% retire within a decade, and notes that the share of investors seeking holistic advice rose from 29% to 52% between 2018 and 2023.
Topic: Practice managementmckinsey.com
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Team-Based Advisor Practices Outperform Solo Practices in Growth and Service Offerings (opens cerulli.com)
Cerulli compares team-based and solo advisor practices. Just over half of advisors work on teams, and team practices average more than three times the assets of solo practices and more than double their annual organic growth, helped by specialist staff who widen the services they can offer.
Topic: Practice managementcerulli.com
Editorial
How we choose
- Inclusion is editorial. No publisher pays to be listed, and none can.
- We leave out any piece that features or recommends a specific fund, ETF, model portfolio or other product.
- Summaries are AdvisorIQ's own words. We link to the original on the publisher's site rather than copy it.
- We do not list pieces behind a paywall or a registration form, or pieces from media outlets and advisor platforms; we link to the original source instead.
More in our editorial standards.