Advisors aren't looking forward to the election—or to interest rate changes, either, since they expect the results of the former to bring negativity and the latter to bring volatility.

That's according to the most recent quarterly "Advisor Top-of-Mind Index (ATOMIX)" survey from Eaton Vance, which found that although just 25 percent of advisors confess to the election being top-of-mind, 95 percent say it will have at least some effect on the stock market.

Recommended For You

Fifty-seven percent anticipate that effect to be negative, while 43 percent are more optimistic, looking to a positive effect.

And interest rates? Well, 73 percent of respondents say they'll be the top driver of volatility during the coming year.

That probably means they anticipate spending a fair amount of time consulting with their clients about the need not to panic.

With 76 percent of advisors reporting that their clients are motivated by fear instead of greed, and 69 percent saying that their clients view volatility as a risk rather than an opportunity, those are bound to be some interesting conversations.

Of course, advisors will probably be talking to those clients anyway, particularly since they hope that the election will bring substantial change.

Half of advisors (51 percent) would like to see moderate changes to current government priorities, and 40 percent would like to see big changes; only 10 percent would like to see current policies and programs continue.

Female advisors are giving more weight to the election in their investment decision-making process, with 25 percent compared with 15 percent of male advisors saying it's the most important factor.

And when it comes to those changes that advisors would like to see, millennial advisors prefer government policy changes that focus on investing heavily in jobs (53 percent, compared with 32 percent of all advisors).

And when it comes to taxes, most advisors take an active approach to mitigate clients' tax bills, with 53 percent focusing on tax loss harvesting in the final quarter of 2016; another 16 percent select tax-efficient mutual funds for clients.

While more than half of advisors' clients are aware that distributions from mutual funds might impact their tax bills, 47 percent of such clients are unclear on how to address this.

NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.