A new Investor Brand Builder report from data analytics and advisory firm Escalent found that trust in and engagement with financial advisors has reached a new high among affluent investors—those with at least $100,000 in investable assets. However, advisors still need to do some catch-up work with investors’ increasing reliance on digital tools and robo advisors.
“The current affluent investor landscape presents a critical opportunity for wealth management firms to differentiate and drive significant growth with these rapidly evolving segments,” said Steve Ethridge, senior director of Cogent Syndicated by Escalent, in a statement. “They must foster trust through consistent performance, but also leverage digital tools to complement, not replace, the value of their human-centric advice.”
In Escalent’s survey sample, 42% of affluent investors reported having a traditional financial advisor, a 300-basis-point increase from the 2023 edition of the survey. Reliance on financial advisors was the highest among first-wave baby boomers (69- to 78-year-olds), at 48%. It was almost as high among members of Gen Z, at 46%. Gen X investors reported the lowest rate of working with a traditional advisor, at 38%.
At the same time, 20% of all investors reported using robo advisors, an increase of 500 basis points compared to 2023. Today, over half of Gen Z affluent investors (55%) are being “robo advised,” a significant increase from just a year ago, when that figure stood at 33%. Additionally, 42% of millennials and 24% of Gen X investors use robo advisors. Their use was in the low single digits among baby boomers and the silent generation.
The reliance on robo advisors was also highest among investors with between $100,000 and $500,000 in assets, at 22%, compared to those with over $500,000 in assets, where it was 18%.
Another 34% of affluent investors reported being “self-directed.” The share of investors in that category was relatively stable across all age cohorts, with the highest among Gen Z and the silent generation (36%) and the lowest among first-wave baby boomers (30%).
Yet trust in the financial investment community was highest among those who work with a traditional financial advisor, at 73%, Escalent found. The figure represents an increase from 64% in 2023 and 70% in 2024. Among self-directed investors, exactly half reported having trust in the financial investment community.
What’s more, 65% of investors who use robo advisors ranked access to a human financial advisor as “very important.” Overall, 57% of surveyed investors placed a high value on having access to a traditional financial advisor, a 400-basis-point increase from the 2023 survey.
Escalent conducted the survey online between July and August of 2025. The survey included responses from 5,038 affluent investors.
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