Mutually dependent
There is a real shortage of quality advice professionals, and an ever-increasing demand for advice from people all over the country. We don’t need to be competing for who has the best approach.
We’re all part of a mutually dependent ecosystem.
Co-operation, rather than competition, is the only way forward. I am quite comfortable saying that I’m not the only person who could do a good job for my clients – plenty can.
The merits of those I would put in that group, however, are not determined by their structure or proposition. It is determined by their professional and personal capabilities, knowledge, credibility and integrity.
I think the impact to a client of appropriate tax planning, financial coaching, dealing with families after a bereavement, structuring assets appropriately for care funding, developing unquestionable trust between parties, operating with integrity and cash flow planning (to name but a few), is of far greater value to client outcomes than which funds you pick or how your proposition is determined.
We should be holding each other to account, or preferably bringing our various advice communities together in an educational setting.
This would raise the profile of what good looks like (rather than mudslinging or splitting hairs). I have my own views of course, but I respect the views of others that may be different to my own.
The regulator is obviously happy with a large variety of different models, and clients up and down the country must also be happy with various models and the outcomes they are getting (or the laws of markets would render them obsolete).
We all have our perceptions and experiences on what we feel is the best way for us to run our businesses and service our clients.
If we all had the same ideas and realties, the world would be a rather bland, and clients would have fewer choices on how they approach their professional relationships. It’s a subjective endeavour.
Let’s dust off the old-fashioned business mentalities and embrace a good dose of co-operation, and we will be all the better off for it.
Adam Cockerham is a chartered financial planner based in Bath and Bradford-on-Avon
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