Hello Lamplighters!
I hope you're all doing well. Today, I'd like to share an article that I believe is crucial for our community to read and discuss. It's about a topic that affects us all: trust in the financial services industry.
https://academyoflifeplanning.blog/.../the-urgent-need.../
Why This Matters:
Trust Gap: Nearly 59% of people aged 50-79 don't trust financial services. This isn't just a number; it's a wake-up call for an industry that should be serving us better.
Advice vs Product: Financial advisers should not be financially incentivised by the products they recommend. We need a clear separation between advice and product.
Beyond Investments: It's not just the investment market that needs non-intermediating financial planners. The mortgage and insurance sectors need them too.
Inclusivity: The study also found that 61% of women are more mistrustful of financial services compared to 57% of men. We need a financial system that serves everyone equally.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. How can we, as Lamplighters, contribute to making the financial services industry more transparent and trustworthy?
Feel free to read, comment, and share. Let's shed some light on this important issue together!
#FinancialTrust #Transparency #InclusiveFinance #Lamplighters
We're just not getting any better at this are we? I'm an old guy and I can remember writing in my regular Financial Adviser column in the early nineties about the importance of 'independent advice', ie. advice and information that is free of the taint of product fees and commissions. Funnily enough I got a response from Peter Hargreaves of H.L. who completely agreed with me. He of course went to become a billionaire on the basis of those fees and commissions... and some brilliant marketing.😀
I honestly don't know how to improve our relationship with consumers, other than by what we're doing at the Academy: inviting people to work with a financial life planner who has no connection with investments, one by one or in groups. Until the FCA or some big body formally creates a wide trench between planning and products, it won't change. To make that separation, to divorce the two is simple. So why is so hard?