Advisers blamed over recession losses

INVESTORS believe that financial advisers have failed to react effectively to the economic meltdown, according to a report released yesterday.

According to a survey by the World GoldCouncil, many investors blame advisers for failing to shield them from tumbling markets.

And a failure by advisers to diversify their clients’ assets by spreading them around more types of investment to mitigate heavy losses focused in particular areas means the average UK investor has seen their assets fall by 15 per cent since 2007, according to the report.

Of those investors who feel their financial advisers have actually changed their advice in response to the crisis, 36 per cent believe the changes came too late to avert serious losses on investments.

And a staggering 71 per cent feel their financial advice has hardly changed since 2007, despite the unprecedented wealth destruction the credit crunch has caused.

World Gold Council managing director of investment research Marcus Grubb said: “Once again private investors have suffered in monetary terms from a stable door being closed when the horse has long since gone.”