Another day, another trip into the City. This time I was attending an event about the new world that is due to start from January, its a new world to those within financial services, but of course probably not to you. In a nutshell, there was a very good presentation by Gillian Cardy about why independent financial advisers ought to remain independent. Somewhat preaching to the choir you would think, but alas many firms feel so threatened by the new rules, that they would rather limit their options (and those of their clients) to a much reduced range. This will deem them as “restricted advisers” which I dare say will not be explained as well as it ought to be (the way the FSA, soon to be FCA require).

As I hope is obvious, I believe very clearly that independent financial advice is the best sort of financial advice. I’m not restricted to only advising on some products, but on pretty much anything. The important and rather obvious point is that being independent, I have access to the whole of the market and represent my clients best interests. As we have always worked on a fee basis we can also clearly demonstrate that there is no bias in selecting any product or provider – we get paid the same whatever is selected. Certainly an independent financial adviser has more research to do and arguably needs more skill and knowledge, but as far as I’m concerned we have been operating under the new 2013 rules since 1999. Our clients face little real change as a result. Our fees are properly and fairly priced. The main changes that we face are the improvements to technology and therefore we can constantly improve our services. So I’m expecting next year to be better than ever for our clients and I’m expecting to continue providing a great service, hoping that they will sing our praises.

We are a boutique firm of financial planners. We create financial plans designed to achieve a desired lifestyle. We will craft and implement your plan that will provide you with the greatest chance of accomplishing your unique goals based upon the values that you hold. Financial products are little more than the tools to achieve your required results
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