Client optimism sinks to 2026 low, CFP Board survey finds

Financial advisors are heading into year-end with gloomier clients, according to new data from CFP Board.

CFP professionals surveyed for the board’s Fall 2026 CFP Professionals Sentiment Indices, released Tuesday, said just 38% of their clients hold a positive financial outlook, down from 50% in the summer survey.

CFP Board said client sentiment has fallen to its lowest level since spring 2025, citing persistent global political instability and concerns about affordability.

Planners’ own moods have also dimmed. Some 52% of those polled described their personal financial outlook as positive, compared with 61% in summer 2026 and 54% a year earlier.

The slide in the latest sentiment snapshot reverses the summer reading, when client optimism rebounded in spite of inflation pressures weighing on households.

Financial planners’ economic outlook darkens

Planners are also less sure about the US economy, with a similar share of respondents expecting conditions over the next year to hold steady (38%) or deteriorate (35%). CFP Board said the pessimistic share is near a record for the survey’s two-year history, registering near the 36% high in bearishness that was set in last year's fall pulse check.

Planners’ views of their own finances over the past year are split. Nearly half, 47%, said their outlook had been stable, while 28% grew more optimistic and 26% more pessimistic.

Business remains healthy despite the mood, however, as almost two-thirds (64%) of planners said their client bases expanded over the past year, and nearly three-quarters (73%) expect further growth in the next 12 months.

CFP Board said client conversations centered on four themes:

• Inflation and the rising cost of living, including groceries, gas, healthcare, and housing;
• Political dysfunction and geopolitical uncertainty;
• Advisors’ efforts to keep clients grounded in the face of political headlines;
• Artificial intelligence as both an opportunity and a risk, weighing expectations around productivity and economic growth against bubble concerns and its impact on jobs and society.

Read more: AI investing takes hold far beyond Wall Street, new data shows

Cost of living tops voters’ list

The affordability concerns planners are hearing match the national mood ahead of the Tuesday midterm elections. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll of more than 1,700 adults in the days leading up to the vote, 48% of registered voters named cost of living as the top issue shaping their ballot.

Read more: Wealth managers weigh election strategies as vote approaches

Nearly half of Americans in the poll, 49%, said their household finances had worsened since January 2025, when President Donald Trump made his return to the Oval Office. Another 13% said their finances had improved and 37% reported no change. Among Hispanic respondents, 54% said their finances had suffered and 10% said they had improved.

For many practices, the job in the weeks before the vote was containment. While emotional investors have changed their portfolios with election-driven trades, advisors were hard at work urging discipline and steering clients toward year-end tax planning.