RJ and Makay

Financial professionals might be interested in an InvestmentNews report about a poll by Advisors Trusted Advisor, which recently uncovered some surprising trends in the financial advice industry. Of the 262 advisors polled, more than half were at fee-only firms, a quarter worked as independent reps, and the rest were employed by wirehouses, brokerages, banks or insurers. Survey participants had a median of about $400 million in assets under management.

Here are the seven trends the poll revealed, in descending order, just as described by InvestmentNews:

You'd never expect it because of the economy, but there are actually more billionaires — 199 more, to be exact — than last year.

According to Forbes magazine's annual billionaire headcount, there are now 1,210 billionaires worldwide. The top three on the list are the same as last year: Mexican media mogul Carlos Slim ($74 billion), Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($53 billion), and Investor Warren Buffet ($50 billion). However, all of the list's newcomers are from outside the U.S. and reside mainly in BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), reflecting dramatic change in the global economy.

For the rising population of consumers who prefer to shop with mobile devices, major insurance carriers are introducing applications that let you address insurance issues from the palm of your hand. This shift to "mobile apps" is the insurance industry's way of reaching out to a youthful generation that may completely alter the way insurance business is done.

For example, 48% of "millennials" — today's young and tech-savvy mobile apps users — expect their employer to offer mobile or Smartphone technology, points out Cindy Saccocia, head of Microsoft's U.S. insurance industry practice. Some 80 million millennials will be entering the marketplace in the next few years, she estimates.