Should this bother you, as a client? Surely, if there weren’t so many rogues in the financial world, we wouldn’t need a Financial Services Compensation Scheme? Or if some of these big companies were better managed, they wouldn’t cause the sort of problems for which compensation needs to be paid? Or (controversially) if the regulators were doing their job, problems could be nipped in the bud at a much earlier stage? Well, yes, all are true and valid points. Thing is, if you look at the stats and the reasons for the payouts, it’s the same old suspects, SIPPs with dodgy investments and firms going under before they themselves (or their insurers) can be made to pay out. And it should bother you, because the rest of us in the business have to pick up the tab. Which ultimately means it comes out of the fees we charge.
“Why you should never retire”
On my 50th birthday, I will always remember, amongst the card or two I received was a letter from Saga’ who’d managed to find out my age through the wonder of the internet, and were pleased to tell me I now qualified to join my parents and go on holiday with them.
