Article by Christina
Once again the results are in and I am proud to be able to announce that I have once again made the Vouched For Top Rated financial advisers list published in The Times on Saturday 10th April 2021. The list is produced by the Vouched For website and is based on verified client reviews of service. Which is what makes the Vouched For service so valuable. Clients have to supply their e mail addresses to Vouched For to verify, preventing advisers gaming the system by adding their own reviews on behalf of clients.
I am proud to have been on the Top-Rated list for the eighth straight year stretching back to the introduction of the list in 2014. Since then, I’ve had 213 verified client reviews with an average rating of 4.9/5.0.
This year the list contained the names of 2,052 advisers who had achieved a minimum of 10 client reviews. Overall, these advisers received almost 37,000 reviews in 2020 and almost 100,000 reviews since the scheme began. This year’s list included not only financial advisors but mortgage advisers, protection advisers, equity release advisers and for the first time accredited financial coaches.
There are 1,580 financial advisers on the list, and I am incredibly proud to be able to announce that I am ranked Number #13 in the UK out of all 1,580 advisers in terms of the total number of client reviews.
That’s astonishing and makes me really proud of the whole team.
I’m not quite sure but I think that over 90% of my clients have taken the time to provide a review for my service on the Vouched For website, which is amazing and for which I am extremely grateful.
Interestingly, of the top13 advisers 12 of them are independent financial advisers with only one being a restricted adviser which is a great advertisement for independence at a time when big, restricted firms are buying up more and more firms. It shows that clients really do value an independent service.
It’s also interesting that of the top 13 60% advertise their fees on their website (as we do), but 40% don’t advertise their fees despite their high number of great client reviews. Which tells me that the cost of advice is not the biggest factor in deciding which adviser to use. Reputation seems to be far more important than price.
The people at Vouched For tell me that last year there was a 54% increase in the amount of time people spent looking at the adviser profile on the website. Which would seem to indicate that people are becoming more interested in doing their own research before deciding to contact an adviser. This chimes with the latest research showing that 93% of people say they are influenced by online reviews. Research also shows that 79% of people say they are more likely to refer friends and family if they can see good reviews. All of which is good news for me!
I hope that I am able to continue to deliver the best possible service for our clients – both existing and new clients – and achieve a Top Rating again next year. I will be doing everything I can to make sure that happens.
You might also be interested to look at my Top Rated Report which has been produced by Vouched For and includes details of all my reviews.
