Article by Phil
What do people really want?
LV have just released the findings of their Wellbeing survey conducted in December, which asked 4,000 adults about their advice experiences. The findings might surprise a few people, but not us. The survey found that:
- 30% preferred to see their adviser face to face in the Office, compared with
- 28% preferring a face-to-face meeting in their own home
- 29% happy with a phone call
- 28% happy with a video call.
That means that almost half of clients would prefer face to face meetings with their adviser. This rings true with our experience, although our client’s preference is probably more like 75%. It also shows that the “old school” telephone is still just as popular as the video conferencing. So, all the talk about Zoom and Teams becoming the new normal over the course of the pandemic is overblown. People still want to talk to people in person, especially about their finances.
Perhaps most tellingly was that fact that those wanting face to face advice the most were the under 35’s.
The survey also looked at attitudes to ESG (Environmental, Sustainable and Governance) investing.
- 36% said that were interested in ESG investing or at least interested in knowing more.
- However, 72% (over two thirds) had never heard of ESG investments.
- Although those with over £100,000 in assets were more likely to be aware of ESG.
Again, this is probably in line with what we see. Whilst there is a lot of industry news and talk about ESG, on the ground less than a third of clients are currently interested, or even interested to find out more, so there is still a long way to go on this front.
LV also published the results of a survey looking at people’s experiences of early retirement (published 30/12/21 in FT Adviser). The survey talked to 2,000 people about their retirement experiences and some of the results were surprising:
- 60 is the most common retirement age with 1 in 6 people retiring at sixty.
- 25% of respondents were able to retire early because their finances allowed it (I’d have thought this number would be higher)
- Over two thirds said they were happier now they had retired.
- But almost half said that their finances had got worse since they retired.
- Just over 20% said they were financially better off.
- A third of people said that having a Final Salary pension had helped them retire.
- But almost the same number said paying off their mortgage was the key.
- A third of those who had retired early said that saving extra towards their retirement had allowed them to be able to make the decision to retire.
Does this sound like you? Are these some of the reasons you thought about before retiring, or are you thinking about early retirement now?
If you need to speak to an Independent Financial Adviser, don’t hesitate to give us a call.
