Financial Planning Week offers Britons the chance to bust the myths around taking financial advice and gain valuable free advice, says Continuum.
This week is the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments (CISI) Financial Planning Week, encouraging the public to explore the benefits of financial advice.
Financial Planning Week is particularly well-timed this year due to the additional complexity and opportunities that have arisen out of the last Budget, leading many middle earners to reconsider their current retirement and estate planning strategies.
During Financial Planning Week many UK financial advisers, including those from Continuum, will run a series of initiatives to promote the benefits of Financial Planning to local and national communities.
These include free meetings for those who want to know if they could benefit from taking advice, sharing resources on topics such as budgeting and saving for retirement on social media, and simply helping the public understand what a financial plan can do for them.
Continuum said that free introductory meetings for those interested in exploring financial planning services allow advisers to bust the myths around financial advice.
Richard Watkins, Chartered Financial Planner at Continuum, said: “The uncertainty that the latest Budget has brought to many savers means that even more people could benefit from seeking financial advice this year. For example, the potential levying of inheritance tax on unused pension values means many savers could seriously benefit from long-term planning and modelling of potential future scenarios. It is this kind of scenario where ongoing financial advice can really add value and save significant sums of money over time.
“ Planners can illustrate how their methodology can guide clients to the life they want. Clients can have a no-obligation discussion about what their best life might look like and explore the paths available to them”.
5 key reasons clients do not seek financial advice:
Cost: A common myth is that financial advice is expensive. A discussion with a planner about value rather than cost can illustrate clearly the benefits of a structured and well thought out plan.
Inertia: Most people understand that their financial life needs to be improved, be organised, and have focus but life’s daily grind occupies their thoughts and actions. They focus on the today and ignore the future. A planner can help evaluate what you want your future to be and guide you towards it.
Fear: A chronic lack of financial education and a real fear of talking about money. Financial education in the UK is woefully inadequate. People are terrified about talking about money and their relationship with money because it is stressful, is a social taboo and we are uneasy talking about numbers. This contributes to the fact that the average personal pension in the UK is worth only £66K[1]. It is vital to allow people to talk about their money story as it will reveal barriers that can be broken down and replaced with a clear path of meaning and purpose. A good planner can help them and guide them away from the self-limiting beliefs that hold them back. It is the conversation that takes place the most with clients, in my experience.
Inability to plan: A good planner will be able to map out a clear path to identifiable objectives or possibilities, enable a client to be in control of their finances, be able to cope with financial shocks, provide financial options that adapts to life’s challenges and provide clarity and security for the ones we leave behind.
Self-limiting beliefs: These form the core of a clients money story and can dominate thinking and keep individuals away from a life of meaning and purpose. Self-limiting beliefs are many and complex but will include fear, loss aversion, overconfidence, a tendency to follow the herd because it’s easy to do so, inability to manage money well, and a focus on the immediate. In the latter case, for example, an unexpected windfall is likely to be assigned to immediate needs (new car, holiday, bathroom) rather than, say, tax efficient applications like pensions and ISAs that offer long term benefits. A well-prepared plan and an open conversation with a financial planner can assign money according to identified priorities.