Aegon Financial Wellbeing Index confirms positive relationship between financial advice and wellbeing but highlights client money mindset as an opportunity for advisers

5 things to consider to improve client financial wellbeing and future proof your business

1.    Find out what makes your clients truly happy?

Encourage clients to think about the experiences that gives them joy and purpose, in the past, now and in the future.

2.    Have your clients got a clear image of what their future self is like?

Help them picture a concrete idea of their future self so they have something to visualise and aim for. Not just a number on a pension statement or bank balance.

3.    Who do your clients measure themselves against?

Discourage upward social comparisons and encourage clients to compare themselves to more realistic and healthy financial role models.

4.    Do your clients have a long-term plan that reflects their purpose and their future self?

Create financial plans with your client’s ambitions for joy, purpose, and future self in mind.

5.    Build relationships with your client’s children or wider family

You will get insight into their relationships with money and their level of financial education. Get them thinking about their purpose and future self from a young age and you will be more likely to keep them as a client, future proofing your business.

Aegon’s Financial Wellbeing Index

Aegon’s Financial Wellbeing Index analyses financial wellbeing across the UK assessing both peoples’ financial position and their money mindset. Based on data from 10,000 respondents and more than 1.3 million data points, Aegon’s Financial Wellbeing Index places a greater focus on long-term financial matters than previous studies in this area.

The index is comprised of 5 sections on money and 5 sections on mindset. In each section respondents were asked a series of questions, the answers to which gave them a possible score of 0-10. In total there were 100 points available and each section was given an equal weighting. Where people lived and the average earnings in their area were taken into account to adjust for regional disparities in earnings and to enable Aegon to draw conclusions about the wellbeing of people in different locations.