In 2020, 4mn people received financial advice – a jump of 6 per cent from the year before. When more people needed advice as the pandemic changed their circumstances, they were able to find it, even as advice businesses were coping with a huge forced shift in their business models. We should feel proud of this, and keep building on it.
One plan that I am grateful the pandemic spared was our family holiday last summer. While we were away, we met up with some friends we had not seen for a while. One of them, asking about my work, volunteered that she had a financial adviser.
She said that what she gained from her adviser was a sense of calm and confidence, knowing that she and her family were financially on track and not taking unnecessary risk. It was clear she felt the value she got from the relationship was worth the fee she was paying – and, incidentally, she did know what she was paying.
However, she did sometimes feel that too much time was spent trekking into the city for a meeting, when surely it could be done on video these days.
Like my friend, many people would benefit from the reassurance and expertise that a good financial adviser provides. Democratising advice is an important goal, and video technology an important tool in achieving it, helping businesses to scale to serve more clients more easily – as well as saving time in everyone’s day.
As with our conference provider though, there is a lot more that can be done once advice businesses have got the basics right. Beyond simply conducting meetings over Zoom, advisers and clients can work through tools together online, and businesses can differentiate themselves by thinking about the branding and client experience of their digital offerings, as well as delivery.
The hybrid world, combining face-to-face meetings with video calling, online tools and more, is rich with promise. I look forward to seeing our industry continue to seize the opportunity.
Ben Goss is chief executive of Dynamic Planner
