What skills actually matter for future-focused investment professionals?

Roughly 70% of participants the institute surveyed are currently pursuing or planning to pursue more expertise in sustainability in the near future; for AI and machine learning, respondents’ current or future upskilling activity stood at 64%. Soft skills emerged as another area of interest among survey respondents, with two thirds saying they’re in the process of or planning to develop those skills further in themselves.

The desire to improve in those areas might not be so surprising given apparent shortfalls in the industry today. In its latest research, the CFA Institute uncovered substantial skills gaps in sustainability and AI and machine learning. In terms of soft skills, fewer than 30% of respondents said they felt fully proficient.

“There’s an ongoing need to increase communication and presentation skills, especially for those in client-facing roles,” Fender says. “The soft skills our members said they most wanted to improve on was influencing, persuading, and negotiating, which I think is interesting when we consider market volatility and how you may need to help clients think through to the long term.”

In another recent study titled Enhancing Investors’ Trust, the CFA Institute asked individual investors what they had been advised to do during the market shocks and extreme downturn of March 2020, and what they actually ended up doing. About 75% of the time, clients followed their advisors’ recommendations, but for those whose advisors suggested that they add more money to the market so they could participate once things rebound, around one quarter did the exact opposite.

“One of the ways that financial advisors and wealth managers can be extremely valuable is to help prevent any rash decisions when the market is moving drastically,” Fender says. “It’s hard at times for investors to make those tough decisions in the moment, and that’s why having a trusted advisor matters so much.”