According to the Vanguard/Investment Trends research, overall satisfaction with financial planners had increased slightly since last year from a composite score of 69% to 71%, particularly when it came to tax advice or technical expertise. But the number of SMSFs using a financial planner had dropped from 185,000 in 2020 to 160,000 in 2021. This meant an increase of the number of SMSFs who did not have a planner but had unmet needs (220,000 to 245,000). The number of SMSFs who did not use a planner and did not have unmet advice needs dropped from 105,000 to 100,000. Irene Guiamatsia, Investment Trends head of research, said trustees were open to using an adviser because they were still not comfortable making decisions themselves or would like a second opinion.