NEW YORK, USA - More U.S. investors with a net worth of $100,000 to $1 million are turning to independent planners for investment advice and away from brokers these days, a report shows.

Mass affluent households using full-service brokers as their primary financial advisor fell to 22 per cent from 30 per cent the year before, according to the report released by Spectrem Group. It defines mass affluent households as those with a net worth of between US$100,000 ($139,280) and US$1 million, not including primary residence.

It said investors using independent financial planners as their primary advisor rose to 22 per cent from 20 per cent during the same time.

Independent planners and brokers now share the rank of No. 1 advisor to these investors, said Spectrem, a consulting firm that specializes in affluent and retirement markets. Brokers had held the top spot since Spectrem began tracking the data in 2001.

The shift coincides with a move toward conservative investing by these households, said George Walper, president of Spectrem Group.

The group said 41 per cent of mass affluent investors described themselves as conservative when it comes to investment risk, a big jump from the 22 per cent who described themselves as such a year earlier.

The shift also comes as the U.S. economy begins to stabilize from the recession, which it slipped into in December 2007. The Standard & Poor's 500 index is up about 60 per cent since its early March lows.

'Old fashioned brokers have been replaced by planners... Managed accounts, that's been the trend,' said Carl Birkelbach, chairman and chief executive officer of Birkelbach Investment Securities Inc in Chicago.

Also, he said, 'a financial planner does more than buy and sell stocks, and that's what people are looking for.'