There has been an exponential increase in the number of investment options being offered to individuals. While this trend can be seen most clearly in the retirement services line of business, it is present across the wider financial services industry. For example, in insurance, many policies come with a myriad of add-on options. Similarly, investment management companies may offer dozens of funds to retail investors.  

Although firms strive to improve customer satisfaction by providing access to more options and bolstering individual empowerment, the result has been quite the opposite.  

In this guide, we discuss the issues that stem from offering clients too many choices, as well as several concrete steps that can be taken to address them.