Article by Christina
For the fifth year running, Lang Cat have undertaken a detailed survey looking at what people think about their local Financial Advisor (FT Adviser 11/5/23). Once again, the findings make interesting reading.
Lang Cat found that:
- 11% of adults in the UK paid a local Financial Advisor for advice in 2022. That means that 89% didn’t.
- Since 2015 the overall advice gap in the UK has increased by 20 million adults. Those are people not receiving professional advice.
- So why are people not getting advice? 38% said they didn’t trust Financial Advisers.
- Despite this less than 10% said that they would trust automated advice either.
- 88% of those paying for advice had a good relationship with their local Financial Advisor, saying they were value for money, including trusting them.
- An estimated 3 million people said they would like to get advice if they could find an adviser they could trust.
- 25% of advisers said they were helping their clients to find ways to transfer funds to help their children.
- In terms of the awareness of advice, the survey found that less than a quarter of people had heard of the governments Money Helper
- Most people still rely on family and friends to help them to find an adviser.
- But 30% now find their own by searching online.
- The situation is not likely to improve with only 40% of school leavers thought to be financially literate. 60% do not receive any financial education at all.
There’s a lot for the Financial Adviser profession to do to improve some of these results. Especially in terms of trust. (Although the term Financial Adviser often gets confused in the publics mind. They wouldn’t always think that referred to qualified and regulated advisers only. It is often confused with the broad meaning of someone who deals in finance. This would potentially include fraudsters, or crypto dealers for example)
There is also a marked difference between how men and women think about finances. In a survey by Plum Investments (IFA Magazine 15/5/23). They found that:
- Women were far more cautious than men in their investment and risk choices.
- For example, only 17% of women surveyed invested in equities compared with 34% of men and only 14% invested in crypto, compared with 37% of men.
- Only 10% would take notice of online investment promotions compared with 30% of men.
- Women preferred investments were property 32% and ISA’s 29%
- However, only 48% of women said they found saving easy, compared with 65% of men.
- Only 17% of women paid in more than the minimum contribution into their auto enrolment pension compared with over 25% of men. Men also made more one off contributions.
