Cash, for example, is set to be the home of choice for nearly four in five people for the coming 12 months, according to research from HYCM, even though returns on cash are currently pitiful.
However, this is largely driven by fear as people choose to shun other investments that present a higher risk but the potential for a higher reward.
If they had an adviser, they would understand that concept and may look to spread their investment risk more widely.
But unless you’re prepared to do a lot of research for yourself, if you won’t have an adviser, it’s not so easy to grasp.
Yet the fear factor can often be overridden by greed with the right persuasion. So, if a scammer presents an opportunity for someone to get a return that those in the know realise is impossible to achieve in the current climate, or they create a believable scenario where you can access your pension early, the temptation is there.
The scammers are so sophisticated they can convince people you wouldn’t believe would fall for it to part with their cash, or their pension. But if even they are taken in, then the financially naive have very little hope indeed.
Older women particularly, where the husband or partner has taken care of the finances for the entirety of their lives together, are particularly vulnerable when it comes to dealing with their finances, and could do with more help than most.
But if they say they want to find their own adviser when their partner dies, there isn’t much you can do.
This is why it makes sense for financial advisers to speak to both spouses throughout the advice relationship, because then the spouse left behind would already feel you are his or her adviser, and so would be less likely to go elsewhere.
For advisers, it helps with client retention, but for the widow or widower, it could mean the difference between continuing to grow their wealth in the right way, or losing it altogether.
Alison Steed is a freelance journalist
