Our mantra of ‘Straightforward Advice’ and ‘Money is only as complicated as we make it’ fall at the second or third hurdle, what is still bizarrely called the point of sale’ in the modern world in which we’re properly deemed advisers rather than salespeople. That’s when we have to provide a raft of regulator-prescribed ‘disclosure documents’, including detailed illustrations, showing what you’re not likely to get if you’re foolish enough to invest any money; and key features documents which seem to do their utmost to make the simple incomprehensible. We of course comply with the rules, but provide our own bullet points and cost summary to reverse the process and make the incomprehensible once again simple. That’s our job, I guess; but surely it shouldn’t be too difficult to make it less difficult for buyers to know what they’re actually buying?
“Worry for profession as young adviser numbers plummet”
There are around 31,000 advisers currently authorised by the FCA to give advice. Of these only around 6% are under 30 and 84% of all advisers are male. There are 209,000 solicitors, 7,000 young ones enter the profession each year and 52% of all solicitors are now female.
