Most affluent investors in the U.S. prefer to use full-service brokers according to the latest research from Forrester Research Inc. They are, however, quite comfortable monitoring their finances online.

The majority of the affluent investors in the U.S., those with at least US$1 million in investable assets, use a full-service brokerage as their primary financial institution, with discount brokerages as a distant second.

“The affluent spread their money around,” says Forrester analyst Ekaterina Walsh, using at least two providers, although 52% identify full-service brokers as their primary source, followed by discounters on one hand and private money managers on the other. “While full-service firms and private banks score high with the offline, discounters and money managers win with the wired affluent.”

Full-service brokerages attract middle-of-the-pack affluent investors whose incomes, assets, and online tenure gravitate to the center. “Net penetration is high for clients of all types of firms. Even in these budget-cutting times, no type of firm has the luxury of being able to de-emphasize Internet initiatives.”

But Forrester also found that the affluent are still more comfortable monitoring their finances online rather than transacting. Forty- eight percent of affluent consumers manage their finances online. Of the remaining 52%, half are online but don’t use the Web to manage their money, and the rest haven’t gone online yet.

“The rich stick mostly to monitoring finances online. Reading financial news, checking account balances, and tracking portfolio balances are the most prevalent online financial activities among the affluent. Younger, more Web-tenured consumers comprise the small percentage of the affluent that actually move their money online, paying bills and making transfers.”

While banks want to attract affluent customers, Forrester says it believes that banks won’t become the primary financial relationship. “The online affluent don’t believe banks act in their best interest and their sites don’t have the unbiased content and planners they want.”

To win clients, banks must behave like advocates. “Affluent customers perceive customer advocacy to be one of the most important criteria that shapes their trust in a financial firm. To act like an advocate, a bank should proactively notify its affluent mortgage customers when it’s advantageous for them to refinance, rather than keeping quiet about rate dips. In addition, sites should provide unbiased tools to help with the decisions the affluent face.”

Forrester also recommends offering online advice, and integrating the firm’s distribution channels. “Almost two-thirds of wired millionaires say that an advisor’s technology proficiency is important to them. Online advice, has the strongest impact on a client’s overall rating of her advisor’s technology prowess. Banks should provide advisors with the technology to support proactive and interactive communication with their clients.”