Female financial advisers are in more demand than male advisers according to research. Schroders found that 12% of women wanted to be advised by a female financial adviser.
Whilst 75% said they didn’t mind who their adviser was. No one seemed to say that they would prefer a man.
In addition:
- Only 35% of the 200 women interviewed said that they thought their adviser understood their particular needs, which is worrying.
- 65% said that they would change advisers if they got divorced or their partner died.
- 75% said however that they thought they were on track to achieve their goals.
- 74% said trust and 68% experience were the most important factors when choosing their financial adviser.
- Less than 50% said that price was the most important factor.
Interesting considering only 16% of all financial advisers are female and that 60% of the UK’s investment assets will be controlled by women by 2025.
In other research by Legal & General, they found that:
- Only 7% of divorcees said that they had consulted a financial adviser about their divorce. Let alone a female financial adviser.
- 20% of people said they had delayed their divorce because of concerns about increased costs of living alone.
- Only 20% had considered their pension assets when calculating their share of a divorce and 30% said they had waived their rights to their spouses’ pension.
- Only 30% also said that they had signed a “clean break” agreement, which means that their ex-spouse could still make a further claim against them in the future.
Against this backdrop the number of people adopting a DIY approach to investing continues to grow. Investment App Finimize asked its users what their investment outlooks for next year were. The answers were interesting:
- 50% were holding back because of concerns about the economy
- Although 75% thought global markets would grow next year
- 18% said they intended to take more risk with their investments
- 56% thought the value of Bitcoin would increase
- But only 20% said they would invest in crypto, down from 37% the year before
Back in January 2021 at the height of lockdown, 690,000 new investment accounts were being opened each month. Probably as a result of low interest rates coupled with the “spare time” lockdown brought. Last month the number of new accounts opened fell to 80,000. A 90% drop.
But what do people want from their financial products?
Not high ratings in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) measures it seems. In the recent “Meaning of Value” survey by Royal London, only 2% of clients ranked ESG factors as important. So, what are people looking for:
- Good service – 68%
- Peace of mind – 65%
- Reputation over price – 64%
- Competitive price – 58%
- Security – 52%
- Value for money – 45%
- Clear communication – 38%
But it is still difficult to find an adviser. The value of assets is often a barrier. Schroders recent survey found that 50% of advisers wouldn’t take on a new client with less than £50,000 to invest and 20% said they wouldn’t take on a new client with less than £200,000 to invest.
On a separate note, please remain vigilant when seeing any financial advertising online. The latest crime figures show that over £75 million was “stolen” last year as a result of online crime.
In terms of average losses per case the worst offender was Tik Tok with average losses of a staggering £138k, followed by LinkedIn at £77k, You Tube £43k, Facebook £27k and Twitter £23k. On average £20k per crime. The numbers of reported scams might be small with only 4,000 reports made but the financial losses can be huge. The biggest single reported loss is now £4 million.
Please be vigilant.