You are probably not aware, but the Financial Advice market is having to deal with the implementation of more legislation. This time its legislation called Mifid II. I won’t try to explain the full details, but one of the aspects of the new legislation is a requirement to write to clients at least once a year to set out the annual charges they’ve incurred. This includes the charges made by product providers, but also the advisers charges for ongoing support.
Here at Christina Clegg Financial Planning Services (CCFPS), we welcome the introduction of this requirement. We are always totally transparent with our clients and will always provide a minimum of one face to face review every year and often more than that, depending on the service arrangement in place. We are keen to keep our clients up to date, to understand changes in circumstances and to make changes where they are required. It’s very much part of the value of having an Independent Financial Adviser acting for you. We understand why the legislation has been implemented, because there are still far too many clients being charged for ongoing support, when they aren’t actually receiving any.
One of the unintended consequences of the legislation, however, is that the cost of advice is unlikely to reduce, because of this requirement to undertake at least a full annual review of clients’ circumstances. Where financial advisers charge clients on a percentage of the value of their investments, its being suggested that this will lead to minimum levels of investment value being required by some firms. Again, this is not a concern for CCFPS, because more often than not, we agree a fee level with clients rather than a percentage charge.
The cost of advice is still a problem however and does represent a barrier for many clients being able to find an IFA. This has led to some firms offering automated or so called “roboadvice” solutions at a lower cost, because there is no human interaction. Quite often when clients turn to lower cost solutions, they look for help and sometimes self-select funds using published “Best Buy” lists. But clients should be warned that these aren’t always what they seem. There is strong evidence that “Best Buy” lists are often influenced by commercial factors such as the offer of discounts on charges, in order to make the list, rather than making the list because of strong consistent performance. When you use an Independent Financial Adviser, another part of the value of advice, is that these factors are not considered, your adviser is always going to recommend the most suitable provider for your individual circumstances.