A 2026 Morningstar Investor Perspectives survey, which included responses from over 500 U.S. financial advisors as part of a larger multi-country study, showed that advisors are still spending more time on evaluating investment strategies than they would like. This is happening at a time when optimism about the market conditions is waning and advisors worry about challenges ranging from geopolitical strife to the possibility of an economic downturn.

The survey showed that advisors continue to spend about a third of their time (27%) on investment strategy, the same as in 2025. Respondents indicated that in an ideal scenario, they would spend only 23% of their time on investment strategy, 14% of their time on operational and strategic…