The dilemma of free market vs nanny regulator is at the root of many financial scandals and scams. Personal pensions and the property boom in the Maggie’s era gave us mortgage endowments and the first pension transfer debacle in the ‘90s. The more recent pension freedoms led to yet another, headlined by British Steel debacle. Neil Woodford was supporting start-up businesses rather than investing in blue chips as assumed and no-one, especially the regulator, realised in time. Peer-to-Peer lending was encouraged as a way to get struggling businesses out of austerity. Which made it the latest financial Wild West, a mantle now assumed by CryptoCurrencies. Will it all still be happening in thirty years time. Of course it will.
“Financial advice provides £47,000 wealth uplift in a decade”
After a meeting of financial advisers this week, a younger member of my team asked me if I thought there were actually too many financial advisers. ‘How can there be?’, was my first reaction, ’there were over 100,000 of us in the ‘90s, now there are only around 25,000.
