A recent investor satisfaction survey has found that about half of advisors did not provide their clients with basic goal-setting advice.

J.D. Power has released its Canadian Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study for 2016. As part of the survey, the marketing information services firm asked more than 5,000 Canadian investors if their advisors helped them set goals that reflect their risk tolerance, implement strategies to achieve those goals, and monitored their progress.

"Only slightly more than half (54%) of investors indicate their advisor helped set goals and discussed risk," reads the report. "Barely one-third (34%) say their advisor effectively delivered on all three stages."

The survey also found that, despite the amount of attention that fee transparency has received in the media recently, only 27% of investors says they completely understand the fees they pay, which is down from the 30% who said they had a complete understanding in 2012.

“These results don’t speak well for the industry as a whole,” says Mike Foy, director of the wealth management practice at J.D. Power. “Investors have some newer, more compelling lower-cost alternatives available to them, including robo-advisors. In addition, with CRM2-mandated fee disclosures beginning to roll out, many investors will be learning for the first time exactly what they have been paying for. Advisors who aren’t adding value for their clients beyond asset allocation may be in real trouble.”