Happy Wednesday siblings, I’m back – as Steven Tyler once so memorably sang, he’s quite the poet – in the saddle again, except not like that, obviously. A big thanks to Nicola for her extraordinary Update debut last week. As I may have mentioned to her, the problem with doing the Update really well the first time is that you’ll be doing it again before long…meanwhile, if you missed her, it’s here for your catchingy-uppy pleasure. Though let the record show it did not make me want to dance.

We’re going to have to do FCA stuff this week because there has been an avalanche of Matter emanating from the digestive system of east London. Prepare yourselves and Assume The Position.

But before we go there, a couple of other bits of business from us, if you’ll allow. Or, frankly, even if you won’t.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO PART THE FIRST

We’ve got a big new thing happening and I’m very excited about it. We’ve featured new and interesting tech in our events before but never dedicated one to it, and that is going to end on 20 June. This is our inaugural AdviceTech Catwalk and it’s going to be a blast. The format is: we pick 5 really interesting early-stage businesses to come and strut their stuff. The only rules are that they have to be early-stage – maybe pre-revenue, maybe just live, maybe raising capital at the moment – and what they do has to be potentially useful to advice firms at some point in the next few years.

The firms strut their stuff in a very cool venue near Tobacco Dock in London, and then get the living daylights kicked out of them (in a constructive and loving way) by a panel of Expert High Inquisitors and probably the audience too. Then we crown a winner and they get a) bragging rights and b) the ceremonial Tube of Rolos and c) an invite to demo to a big audience at our HomeGame 4 Scottish event in October. And then there are drinks and street food and music.

Tickets are £100 plus the tax but if you’re in the lang cat adviser research panel you miiiiiight get one for free. The first tranche of 50 went in 4 hours and the venue is limited to 150 seats, so keep your eye out.

We’ll be out and about looking for firms to take part in showing their wares in the weeks to come – if you think you might be interested either for that or just as an audience member please go here for all the details.  We won’t be streaming this one so if you want to see it you’ll have to get off your ass.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO PART THE SECOND

See what you just read? Regulars will have noticed that as a company we’re putting out more and more Stuff – from Tom’s podcat to in-depth regulatory analysis (there will be a more in-depth blog on the retirement income pronouncements later today from Mike, Alison and Tom) to events to Analyser developments and more. In the main the way we let you know about all this is through the Update and it’s all getting a bit unwieldy, as you just experienced. So we’ve created a new, occasional newsletter with this in mind which just covers tales from the cat basket. That’ll mean that we can spend a bit less time on lang cat Stuff and more on the issues of the day. Keep an eye out.

Along with that, for the first time since the Update started in January 2019 (I know, right?) I’m going to change the structure very slightly so there are two loads of links; one from Us and one Not From Us. So you can get a quick digest from the cat basket and also interesting things from elsewhere we think are worthy of your attention. I’ve only just made this up so it won’t look pretty this week but we’ll work on that.

STUFF THE REGULATOR IS UP TO

Oh man. First up we had the Business Plan yesterday – lots of stuff in there that isn’t directly relevant to the Update but is interesting nonetheless for sure, but also plenty that is very directly relevant. It may not shock you to know that Consumer Duty is not going away (the regulatory thing, not the band, though that might not be going away either). Momodou at Money Marketing does a good write-up here. And the business plan itself is here.

The advice/guidance boundary is also going to be a key focus and while you think you might not care too much about that, you probably do, or should at least. The sacrosanct nature of financial advice won’t look the same in a couple of years, I don’t think, and while I know many of you consider advice to be secondary to planning, it’s still a key part of what people think they want as they approach you for help; the more advice changes, the more choice people have as they make their decision about who to call or email, and the more you have to think carefully about your own positioning.

You know what’s “better” (for a given value of “better”) than one big flurry from Stratford? Two. Two big flurries. And we had our flurry-related prayers answered this morning with the results of the retirement income review, a Dear CEO letter to advice firms on retirement income and a whole heap of accompanying documentation. This is only just out – literally an hour or two as I write this – and we haven’t had time to do that thing we do with it yet, but here are my first six reactions:

1. This is a big one; you don’t have to like it but you do have to engage with it
2. It potentially goes wider than retirement income but that’s probably for later
3. There’s literally a retirement income assessment tool that you can download and have fun with and I would love to be a fly on your wall when you do
4. Some of you aren’t doing cashflow modelling right
5. Some of you aren’t doing ATIR and capacity for loss right (1.32 to 1.34)
6. Your CRP probably needs work (section 4)

All in all there’s a lot in here for a Wednesday morning, especially when I’ve got a streaming cold. So I’m off to read all 53 pages of TR24/1 and I suggest you do the same. You are allowed biscuits.

#LANGCATLINKS

• Once again, here are the details for the AdviceTech Catwalk. Come a’ye.
• While we’re on tech, here’s a really good piece on AI by oor Natalie, who also has a cold.
• Tom’s latest podcat covers Collective DC with the evergreen Adrian Boulding, who surely has a picture in an attic somewhere looking pretty ropey by now.
• Analyser now has LGIM’s MPS range on it and might win something soon.

#NOTLANGCATLINKS

• Amy at FT Adviser correctly picks out the bit in the Dear CEO letter which says most firms won’t meet CD rules without taking some action; I still hear a lot of firms saying they don’t have anything to do…
• Your call is not important to us, please don’t hold…quite remarkable stuff from HMRC.
• Suspect many of your clients will be reading about inflation figures this morning and wondering what it might mean for them.
• Nice podcast with Scott Philips from Pension Lab on Letters of Authority and matters arising from Lois at Money Marketing. A good break from FCA matters…
• And your music choice this week is very much Not Kylie because balance is needed in all things innit. Please do have Necrophobic’s Mirrors of a Thousand Lakes in your ears, along with a very interesting documentary about life on the road for a friendly death metal band.

See you next week

Mark