Corporate Insight Releases Report on Asset Manager Client Education Resources: Firms Diverge Sharply on Advisor Support for Client-Facing Materials
BlackRock, DFA and Manulife John Hancock earn Excellent ratings, emerge as leaders in client education resources
New York, NY, July 15, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Corporate Insight (CI), the leading provider of competitive intelligence and customer experience research to the financial services, insurance and healthcare industries, today announced findings from an Asset Management Monitor – Advisor report examining client education resources. As AI automates more of investing, advisors will increasingly look to behavioral coaching and personalization to establish value and build relationships. This new research uses a firsthand evaluation of advisor-facing public and secure site resources, finding that firms with the strongest client education libraries pair broad topic and format coverage with clear labeling and features that let advisors personalize materials for individual clients.
"Client education materials give advisors a way to demonstrate value beyond product selection and portfolio construction," said Sam Fritsch, asset management research manager at CI. "The firms that stand out treat this content as a working part of the advisor's toolkit rather than a static download library. The leaders in this space reduce friction wherever possible, from labeling resources clearly so advisors know what's appropriate to share with different audiences, to building in ways for advisors to put their own name and branding on the material."
The report rates firms as Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor based on resource access, format and topic breadth, practice management integration and value-added features. Three firms, BlackRock, DFA and Manulife John Hancock, earned Excellent ratings; six earned Good; four earned Fair; and four earned Poor.
Clear labeling determines whether advisors use materials at all:
Nearly all coverage set firms (94%) maintain a dedicated client education section, but 59% still scatter resources without clear audience labels, leaving advisors to judge compliance approval and use case on their own. DFA and Vanguard stand out for applying consistent client-use labels across nearly every page and workflow touchpoint where such materials appear.
Customization turns firm-generated content into an advisor-curated resource
Advisors in CI's 2024 Advisor UX Study Report stated reluctance about distributing materials that read as generic or overly firm-branded. BlackRock's secure site Brand & Share tool lets advisors apply their own logo, color palette and font to firm-generated materials, moving well beyond standard name-and-date personalization options.
Demographic and life event coverage lags well behind product and strategy content
While 94% of firms cover investment strategy, only 29% offer demographic-specific content and 47% offer life event content, with that group skewing heavily toward divorce and death (35%) and leaving marriage and eldercare underserved (12%). MFS and BlackRock both pair life event materials with dedicated women investor content.
"Firms have built strong libraries around investment strategy and product education, but the topics that carry the most emotional weight for clients, like divorce, eldercare and caring for aging parents, remain thin across the industry," Fritsch added. "Asset managers that expand into this territory, and make sure advisors can find and personalize what they offer, give advisors a genuine point of differentiation with clients."
Access the Report
Organizations can contact CI to learn how to access the full Client Education Resources report. Media seeking key findings and analyst perspectives can contact CI's press team to learn more.
Firms covered in this report include:
AB (AllianceBernstein), American Century, American Funds, BlackRock, Columbia Threadneedle, DFA (Dimensional Fund Advisors), Federated Hermes, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Hartford Funds, Invesco, J.P. Morgan, Manulife John Hancock, MFS Investment Management, PIMCO, T. Rowe Price, Vanguard
About Corporate Insight
Corporate Insight (CI) delivers competitive intelligence, user experience research and consulting services to the nation's leading financial services, insurance and healthcare organizations. As the recognized industry leader in customer experience research for over 30 years, CI offers a best-in-class research platform and unique approach of analyzing the actual customer experience to help organizations advance their competitive position in the marketplace.
About Asset Management Monitor – Advisor
CI's Asset Management Monitor – Advisor is a subscription-based competitive intelligence research service focused on the digital advisor experience at asset management firms. The service provides subscribers with firsthand insights into public and secure site content, tools and practice management resources across leading asset managers, delivering competitive analysis reports, updates and capability tracking to help subscribers identify emerging trends and maintain a competitive edge.
Patrick Flood Corporate Insight pflood@corporateinsight.com
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