Article by Christina
Of course we would alway say yes it is, but don’t just take our word for it.
Royal London and The International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) have recently released a new research document entitled What it’s worth – Revisiting the value of financial advice which follows their 2017 report The Value of Financial Advice.
The report highlights that even with the introduction by the government of workplace pension schemes, the vast majority of the population are not planning sufficiently for their individual retirement. This is potentially putting many families at risk of having a lower future standard of living than they could have achieved had they planned and invested better. Some people are even having to postpone their retirement due to lack of income. This is often coupled with the increase in the age when the state pension is available.
The report summarised 3 key areas where getting advice benefits clients:
- Receiving professional advice resulted in total boost to wealth – who wouldn’t want better wealth in the future?
- Greater benefits were evidenced to those classed as “just getting by” above those deemed “affluent” – you don’t need to be wealthy to see a difference.
- An ongoing relationship with your adviser resulted in almost 50% higher results than those who only took initial advice – not only are we good at the outset, keeping in touch on a regular basis is also has fantastic value.
So why wait? Here at Christina Clegg Financial Planning Services we offer a free, no obligation pension review to investigate your current position, produce a unique summary of your pensions and then sit down with you and explain what it all means to you.
(Update – 24/1/19 – Pension Wise, the Government run pension information service, which is part of the Money and Pensions Service (MAPS) has just reported an increase of 49% in the number of people using its services. In the year to the end of 2019 Pension Wise reported that that they had undertaken 130,000 telephone and face to face appointments, which was an increase of 49% over the same period in 2018. These figures are very encouraging, for the reasons already outlined. Pension Wise also says that of the people who engage their services, over one third then go on to get advice from a financial advisor. So, if you would rather speak to Pension Wise for free that could be a good place to start. Click on the Pension Wise website to find out more.
There is however some concern in the advice industry about the broader aims of MAPS which it has laid out in a new 10-year plan. MAPS is seeking to improve consumer understanding across a number of areas including pensions, savings, credit and debt advice. But in the area of pensions and savings there are concerns that the “guidance” MAPS is suggesting will actually stray across the boundary into “advice”, which is of course highly regulated. The difficulty comes where “guidance” becomes specific to a person’s individual circumstances.
Also, in the news this week is research from Openwork which reports that savers are still struggling to know how to access financial advice, especially younger people. The survey showed that 51% of 18 to 24-year olds did not know where to go for advice and guidance. This just highlights why we need the MAPS service.)
If you wish to arrange an appointment, please contact the office and someone will call you back.
