Robin writes:
I believe in financial planning for everyone.
Currently, only a small percentage of UK adults have a financial plan, or a financial planner they can turn to when they need assistance.
I want to change that. In my view, we should all have a plan, and access to a professional planner, regardless of our wealth or circumstances.
Why do so few people have a financial plan?
Why, then, don't more people have a financial plan in place?
Well, it’s complicated. But the first thing to understand is that most financial planning in the UK is provided by regulated financial advice firms that charge clients a percentage of their investable assets and include financial planning as part of the service.
The problem is, most advice firms don’t even take clients on until they have at least £100,000 in liquid assets, and that rules out most people of working age.
There are several reasons why people don't have that much to invest. For example, they may not have invested for long enough to have amassed that amount in savings. Some are in an occupational pension scheme so their investments are already being managed for them.
Others have their wealth tied up in property or in their own business. Non-UK nationals and those with dual citizenship may have most of their assets overseas.
Another problem is that, for those with very large portfolios, paying a percentage fee to an advice firm can be very expensive. So, for that reason, some people choose to manage their finances on their own.
Plugging the planning gap
For the past couple of years, I’ve been thinking of ways to provide to serve people in of the above categories. It has not been a straightforward process, and I’ve had to go back to the drawing board several times.
Finally, though, it has all come together and today I am pleased to announce the launch of Second Life Financial Planning — a new kind of financial planning firm altogether.
We are not a regulated financial advice business. We don’t recommend specific products, and we don’t manage clients’ money.
We are a financial planning firm. We help clients identify the life they want to lead and then devise a plan to make that life a reality.
We empower them to take control of their lives and their money, and then, on an ongoing basis, we provide them with one-to-one coaching and mentoring, and any financial education they might need.
Some, but by no means all, clients require advice about specific financial products, and we strongly recommend that those people speak to a regulated financial advice firm. If you fall into that category, we will refer you to a firm, authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, that shares our evidence-based investment philosophy.
As part of our service, we also refer clients to other trusted professionals with specific expertise, including chartered accountants and lawyers.
But whatever help you need, you will always pay in pounds, not percentages — both the initial plan and any ongoing support you require. And you will not pay any more than you would do if you accessed that expertise directly.
It’s all part of our mission to make good financial planning more accessible and affordable, so that more people can enjoy its life-changing benefits.
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