Parents and grandparents will be familiar with the question, “Are we there yet?” Particularly if they are on a long journey.
I recently asked myself the same question. It came about because I was asked by a young professional who was considering a career change and wanted to know the prospects for a career in financial adviser.
So, is the financial advice industry ‘there’ yet? My immediate thoughts were no. There are large numbers of people who should be seeking financial advice but do not engage with the industry. Why is that?
Does the industry provide what they are looking for? What are the resistance points? Is financial advice perceived as too expensive? Has poor publicity relating to a few bad apples had a toxic affect?
The first question is the one that bugs me. I am of an age where I am in contact with many young people who are looking to get on the housing ladder. Should they join a pension scheme? If self-employed, should they be making pension contributions? What about an ISA? Where should excess savings go?
Do they need a financial coach rather than financial advice? Financial advice is how to reach your financial goals but if you do not know what goals you are aiming for, where do you begin? If you put too much emphasis on goals and do not take account of life’s necessities (a roof over your head), or the consequences of illness or premature death there could be trouble ahead.
The problem is that the broader the offering from an adviser, the more costly the service becomes. This is where technology is important. It has two roles. The obvious one is to improve the day-to-day productivity of the adviser. More importantly, when with a client, it lets them – at a push of a button – illustrate the impacts of different lifestyle scenarios.
More holistic financial coaching services should be able to be delivered at low cost. This will create a boon to the industry.
So far, I have restricted my comments to accumulation and protection during the working life. The services I mention should be seen as a client onboarding strategy for later life.
The transition into retirement and the drawing down of accumulated wealth during retirement are the most complex areas of financial planning and advice.
From a strict advice point of view, what wealth has been accumulated? A house? Different types of pensions? ISAs – Stocks and Shares? How much will their State pension be? When will they receive it? Are they entitled to any State benefits?
What lifestyle do they wish to follow? Sedentary or active? Will they continue to work part-time? What are their partner’s plans? Are they similar or are they going to conflict? How much will they spend? What other spending objectives do they have?
Then there are the future personal risks that can impact on financial wellbeing. The cost of care, death which is – like it or not – getting ever closer. So many conversation points, so many different inputs requiring different solutions.
I have not touched upon the best ways to invest the accumulated wealth, which must be influenced by a tax-efficient drawdown strategy. That is the financial advice after the retirement coaching has taken place.
A common theme of my thoughts is that housing is crucial to accumulation financial planning, and the accumulated wealth has a large part to play in retirement planning. Advisers need the tools to be able to be able to combine housing wealth with other assets.
Consider the value of tax-free withdrawals from housing wealth while reducing potential inheritance tax bills. At the other extreme, how can housing wealth be used to augment limited pension savings without seriously impacting on State benefit entitlements?
Looked at this way the financial advice industry is not ‘there’ yet. If the correct technology is delivered, we may find we are about to turn onto the motorway and rapid progress towards the ultimate destination of the industry will be made.
Bob Champion is chairman of the Air Later Life Academy