Some 87 per cent of people trusted their adviser and a similar figure (84 per cent) were satisfied with them. On top of that, 85 per cent were confident with the advice they had been given.
These figures are a resounding positive for advisers.
Those people who work with financial advisers know and understand their worth, and the difference they are making to their financial lives. They trust them. And they trust the advice they are given – 85 per cent were confident in the plan they had been given by their adviser.
But only 8 per cent of UK adults receive financial advice, so how can this be widened out?
The FCA has identified that 28 per cent of all adults had not received regulated advice in the past year but may need it as they had £10,000 or more in investible assets, or £10,000 or more in their defined contribution pension and intended to access it or to retire in the next two years.
The Treasury and FCA are currently reviewing the advice guidance boundary to improve the help and support available to savers. Part of this reform has to concentrate on how to widen out access to financial advice, but that is not going to be able to support that figure of 28 per cent of people who may already need help.
The government needs to look to other solutions, which could include regulated guidance to begin to accommodate these savers too.
In looking at wider solutions, it is going to be important not to jump to conclusions involving product solutions, and to instead focus on the outcomes that consumers experience.
Those 28 per cent of UK adults have varied and different needs and experiences, and so any solution needs to be flexible.
Pension saving in the UK
The results here show auto-enrolment has created a nation of pension savers. Two-thirds of non-retired UK adults have a pension in accumulation, and 59 per cent are contributing to it.
However, one third of respondents said their pot was worth less than £10,000. Automatic enrolment is obviously still in its relative infancy and more action or policy change is needed to raise contribution levels.
One in three people do not know how much their pension pot is worth. Pensions dashboards could help here, giving people the ability to see all their retirement pots in one place with their estimated retirement income.
The rise of the young emotional investor
Finally, the survey shows four in 10 UK adults hold investments, a definite upwards trend on previous years (37 per cent in 2020 and 31 per cent in 2017).
The range of investments were probably as expected, but there were certain areas that had seen a rise.
For example, investment in ‘real’ investments (wine, art, jewellery etc) has tripled from 2.2 per cent to 6.5 per cent.
