US advisors keep spending 27% of their time on investment strategy, four points over their own ideal

Closing that four-point gap ^[17] means cutting about 15% of the hours advisors now spend on investment strategy ^[18]. The 27% was the same in 2025, according to Morningstar's survey of more than 500 US advisors ^[3][2]. In an ideal split, they said, more than 60% of their time would go to client relationships and 14% to operational and strategic initiatives ^[4].

Getting there would mean buying portfolio construction from someone else, through model portfolios or an outsourced manager, or running a shorter product list. The published results do not say how many advisors already use either.

The product list is getting longer. Among advisors who already allocate to private markets, 39% plan to raise allocations by 1% to 10% over the next 12 months ^[1]. Another 7% plan a significant increase and 4% a significant cut ^[1]. Beyond fees, 41% named limited liquidity as a major barrier and 35% cited a lack of transparency about underlying holdings ^[14]. Legal complexity (30%) and regulatory uncertainty (27%) followed ^[14]. Each is a question an advisor has to answer before putting client money in, and I would expect most of that work to be counted as investment strategy.

"The primary challenges are becoming even more in focus," said Joe Agostinelli, senior director of market research at Morningstar. "I think that's due to more chatter about private markets and private investments, so the challenges are becoming more prominent." ^[15]

New adopters are thinning out. Last year's users plus the 8% who then planned to offer private markets implied as much as 43%, three points above the share that offers them now ^[12][19]. With planners down to 5% and 55% of advisors still without plans ^[12], adoption tops out near 45% unless that larger group moves ^[20]. Across the whole sample, about 18% of advisors plan to raise private allocations ^[16].

Sentiment moved in the same year. US optimism now trails advisors in the UK, Canada and Australia by 23 to 27 points ^[21]. Worry about tariffs and trade policy fell to 14% from 41% ^[10], and inflation, at 44%, now sits second behind geopolitics ^[8][9]. "Advisors, for the most part, are still feeling steady or optimistic, but they are a little less optimistic than they were in 2025, and they are a little more uncertain," Agostinelli said ^[7].

If advisors adopt models or outsourced managers, the 27% should drift toward 23% even as private allocations grow; if private-market diligence grows faster than any handoff, the share rises; and if the 23% is a preference advisors state but do not budget for, it stays put. I think it stays near 27% in the next survey, with upward pressure from the roughly 18% adding private exposure ^[16]. The counter-case is scale. Most of those increases are 1% to 10% ^[1], small enough that the extra work may not show up in a profession-wide time share. A reading below 27% next year, with private-market adoption still at 40% or higher, would prove that view wrong ^[3][11].