Financial advisors seem to be a generally cheerful mood but a study also finds areas of concern about career satisfaction and ethics.

A survey of almost 1,000 US financial services professionals finds plenty of optimism although just under a quarter also fear they have compromised their clients.

The survey, by Charles Schwab Independent Branch Services, part of US-listed Charles Schwab, said the “vast majority” of respondents are pleased with their jobs, although 73 per cent wished they could help clients better.

The 994 survey respondents have worked in the sector for at least seven years and interact with customers at least once a week. Some 80 per cent are optimistic about the future of the industry, and 82 per cent feel it is going in the right direction.

Such views come at a time when the industry has seen moves to shift towards fee-based advice – and legal and business resistance to it – as seen under the Department of Labor Fiduciary Rule. There have been worries that the average age of advisors is creeping up, creating a future shortage of professionals to handle affairs of rising high net worth individuals. Regulatory burdens, shifting client expectations and the impact of automation technology also are changing how wealth managers operate.

Examining the Mindset of US Financial Professionals, as the study is called, found that while client-facing financial professionals are generally fulfilled and optimistic about their careers, they are “brimming with entrepreneurial drive and drawn to independence”. 

“The majority of survey participants care deeply about their work and are pleased with their jobs, yet 76 per cent say they have experienced obstacles that have limited their success, citing lack of support and limited autonomy,” it said. 

“These survey findings reflect common perspectives that we’ve heard when talking to candidates about running our franchise branches,” Craig Taucher, senior vice president, Schwab Independent Branch Services, said.

Among other findings, the survey found that continually improving the client experience through innovation (78 per cent) was crucial. Some 86 per cent said the financial industry has changed more in the last five years than in the previous 15 years, and 76 per cent believe that new technology is changing the industry to the point where it will be unrecognizable in 10 years.

On the downside, 41 per cent of respondents said they’ve had negative experiences in their professional lives that still keep them up at night, and 26 per cent said they worried about compromising their personal values. Some 69 per cent did not regret anything about the professional path they’ve taken, but 71 per cent wondered what life would be like if they had taken a different professional path.

One question showed that 30 per cent of those who experience obstacles said they are too busy servicing existing clients and lack support to pursue new business. And 26 per cent said they were promised things by employers that were never delivered.

The online survey was carried out by Edelman Intelligence.