Wholesalers should keep their eyes peeled for advisors hunting for actively managed U.S. and non-U.S. equity funds this year. Although smart-beta funds have been on the rise, they're still no match for traditional index funds or active equity funds, according to Advisor Perspectives' new survey, Advisors’ Plans to Increase Allocations over the Next Six Months.

In the survey, 30.4 percent of advisors plan to increase allocations to traditional index funds, while only 22.4 percent of advisors plan to increase their allocations to non-cap weighted (smart-beta) funds.

Yet, traditional index funds still fell behind one category when it comes to advisor expectations. 34 percent of 778 advisors surveyed expect to increase actively managed non-equity funds by three percent or more over the next six months. As for actively managed equity funds, they came in third with 26.9 percent of advisors surveyed planning to increase allocations to this category.

Wholesalers should note that most advisors surveyed were dual-registered advisors and fee-only advisors, 914 and 248 advisors respectively.

"Given that P/E multiples are lower in emerging and developed non-U.S. markets than they are in the U.S., this is not surprising," states Bob Huebscher, CEO of Advisor Perspectives. "But fund companies should take note of the interest in actively managed funds, which may signal a reverse in the recent trend of asset flows from active to passive."

In this survey, a total of 1,580 advisors participated with 778 advisors intending to increase asset allocations to one or more categories. The remaining advisors don't intend to increase any of their allocations for any category. 955 advisors have more than 10 years of experience and 320 advisors have between one to 10 years of experience.  

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