Our regulator’s stated aim is to reduce the number of small advice firms, to make their lives easier and leave them less to regulate. And here’s the first inkling that their tactics are working, as more and more one-man-bands decide to sell out and head for the hills. The ‘bigger is better’ theory has been tried in many places, many times. Hospitals, for instance. But can anyone who’s experienced both giant and cottage, say they prefer the huge, impersonal regional monoliths; however (supposedly) efficient and crammed with expertise they may be? I don’t think so. Give me a GP who comes to see me and knows my name, any time.
“Britain has lost 435 financial advice firms since 2022”
Headline figures, there were over 200,000 financial advisers at the end of the ’90s, there are around 30,000 now and our numbers are continuing to reduce.