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Monday 21 November 2011

Let’s start a UK financial planning revolution……

Last week I started my campaign to start a UK financial planning revolution, and to date I have a small group of 50 plus followers who are, I hope, intrigued by my battle cry. Perhaps there is a question around my motivation, who I am and what I want to achieve. This blog I hope will expand on this further, and my aim is for this to be posted onto the FSA, ABI, government, trade bodies, journalists and anyone else you think should get involved. 

This is not one person’s mission but one which you can all get involved with; if you don’t agree with what I write, or you have different thoughts then let me know. You can send me a message and I can send you my email address and I will never disclose your details unless you want me to. Or you can simple respond to the blog or tweet.

To get involved spread the message and help increase my followers, I can send this message to the FSA, ABI, government etc but if there are more people you want me to contact then let me know. 

A generational change  

Generational changes in financial services happen once in a lifetime and provide an opportunity to make a massive difference. In 2013 one of these generational changes is set to take place. This provides fantastic opportunities; however, we are missing one key ingredient to this change which unless addressed could make the whole exercise pointless. 

My challenge today is simple, as part of the changes that are being driven through by the government, Europe, FSA etc etc let’s take a step back and consider what we want to do in Financial Services. 

I have read a number of papers and comments over the past few weeks and have observed the following:

  1. The ABI in their quarterly paper focus on product sales as the key to financial advice
  2. The ABI in the same paper seems to think that advice from 2013 will have to be paid for by hard cash
  3. The FSA has spent years putting together RDR with the aim to increase trust amongst consumers and provide access to advice for the masses (the last point is one that the FSA have confirmed they will miss as this stage)
  4. And more recently it is becoming clear that people are not saving which will create a long term problem
The solution seems to be a fixation on simplified products, more regulation and a great deal of confusion.

The essential ingredient which I believe is missing is simple; the concept of financial planning. Clearly the focus for the ABI, FSA and as a natural consequence the government who take their lead from these parties is product driven. This is an outdated concept from the eighties. In the last years I have met a new generation of financial advisers who have built up sound practices where the focus is on financial planning, and are supported by modern thinking solution providers (whether a platform or other support)

A concept which I will expand on throughout my blogs but seems to be lacking from the minds of many key influencers in driving change. Financial planning is about finding out about goals and aspirations first and putting the product last (i.e. as the solution to delivering the goals). And what is important is that people / consumers see financial planning as the hub of the wheel which facilitates the components to deliver the solution.  

Before I continue I accept that some people can do their own financial planning and this is why we have to have direct / non advised operations but I think for many if they don’t get this concept then they will be disappointed at some point of their journey because an adviser can provide an impartial and rational view point. 

It is my aim to get this message out to the FSA, to the government, to journalists, to trade bodies as a challenge. Are we prepared to get a positive and important message out to the public, because if we don’t we are going to miss one of the most exciting opportunities we have. 

Consequences of doing nothing

Not only do I want the influencers to think differently but I want to go out to schools, colleges and universities and talk to our young people about financial planning and why it has to be considered and also about the idea of investing (that is for another day!). Financial planning is not just about long term needs but it should also cover day to day financial management as a key starting point. If we don’t get the message to these people now we are going to have a whole generation who join the ranks of the unknown. 

The IFP has already started the process but we need to go further and start a financial planning revolution in this country. I started the campaign to demystify financial planning just last Thursday and now have over 50 followers on twitter there is clearly an appetite - the bigger the names and bodies who get involved the more likely we are to make a change.  

We are so keen to impose regulations / ideas and paperwork work when actually the message is very simple – we need to create a service proposition which is transparent, simple and at the heart of it sits the client. (Sorry I did adapt this from one of the messages you sent last week!).

If we don’t do this then I believe the FSA will also fail on their first aim as well and that financial planning will stagnate and fall away leaving access to advice to the few and as a consequence will leave a lost generation. The reason why this is bad is that we already know people are not saving enough, partly because they can’t afford to but I suspect because they have no idea why they need to save. When they "retire" where will they turn?

So the question is, are you prepared to join this revolution? This message will be tweeted and emailed to key influencers but you have a voice and influence so spread the word. Retweet, email your contacts and make a difference. The more followers the more noise we can make and let’s make 2013 a generational shift for all the right reasons.

Follow me on Twitter so please spread the word and lets change the world.

2 comments:

  1. Change is so long overdue! This is a great start!

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  2. Thank you, a lot of this is what I believe and what I have learnt listening to people and reading. I have also worked in financial services for over 20 years so also have a lot of experience. But people like you are important because you can provide valuable feedback so if you disagree with something I write or think it can be done better then please say.

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