Nearly Half of Advisers Show Increased Interest in Model Portfolios

Financial advisers are evolving from stock pickers to relationship builders, according to a recently published Escalent report, “Advisor Use of Model Portfolios and SMAs.” It found that 42% of advisers surveyed in September 2025 and October 2025 said they were using model portfolios more in the last two years than they had previously, compared with 29% who said the same in 2023.

The surge in model portfolio use by advisers may be due to the decline in “technical” advisers, which the report defined as those spending at least 40% of their time on investment selection and portfolio construction. Only 36% of advisers identified as “technical” in 2025, down from 43% in 2023.”

“We are seeing a clear shift where advisers are moving away from the technical aspects of the job to free up time for growing their business,” said Meredith Lloyd Rice, a vice president in Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated division, in a statement. “Momentum is expected to continue, with three in 10 advisors planning to rely more on model portfolios over the next year to gain portfolio management efficiency.”

The Escalent study found increased model portfolio use was driven by advisers age 45 or older. Even though advisers younger than 45 remained the heaviest users of model portfolios, the growth was fueled by the older demographic.

“In a shift from 2024, when younger advisors were the most likely to report increased use, older cohorts are now ‘catching up’ to modernize their practice,” Rice said in a statement.

In 2025, 27% of advisers aged 65 or older said they intended to rely on model portfolios more in the coming year, up from 15% of the same age group in 2023.

Additionally, the report found that 82% of advisers using model portfolios employed portfolios made of a diversified vehicle type, rather than only relying on mutual funds. Advisers showed most interest in models that use passively and actively managed exchange-traded funds. While the usage of active ETF model portfolios today is low, advisers surveyed reported a high level of interest.

Escalent’s report was based on findings from an online survey conducted from September through October 2025 by Cogent Syndicated of 400 registered financial advisers with an active book of business of at least $5 million.