Home Truths 2023
At Home Truths we asked ourselves this big question “What if the home truths we hold to be self-evident are wrong”?
At Home Truths we asked ourselves this big question “What if the home truths we hold to be self-evident are wrong”?
The world has seen huge changes over the last few months, let alone the last five years. Most advice processes, CIP approaches, charging mechanisms, portfolio construction techniques and other fundamental building blocks of good advice businesses were dreamed up and installed well before that.
So ponder this. At a time when risk grade 3 portfolios have developed an irritating habit of being more volatile than risk 7; when dashboards and open finance promise to remove the mystique of consolidation; when Consumer Duty asks a profession built on protecting clients from complexity to ensure deeper consumer understanding, and when even how the industry and profession charge is under fire – what happens when we disturb the fundamentals? Can we change, and should we? What would a planning business built for the next 20 years, not the last 20, look like? What are the roles for planners and providers as we look to the future?
At Home Truths, we explored and – in some cases – answered these questions.
11.00am
Take your seats
11.10am
Everything we know is wrong
11.30am
Have CIPs had their day?
12.20pm
Should planners be investment managers?
2.00pm
Adviser as manufacturer
2.45pm
Breaking the mould – Restricted advice and niche or broad?
3.55pm
Breaking the mould – Advice vs planning
4.30pm
The build
Mike is consulting director, and sole-proprietor of the lang cat Isle of Wight office. A driver and survivor of platform mergers, migrations and RDR he held a number of senior roles at Skandia and Old Mutual Wealth before joining the dark side of consulting life. His favourite platform is platform 4 at Southampton Central.
Jeannie has been working in financial services for over 14 years. She joined EQ in 2008 as a Technical Consultant and since 2010 has been a Director of the firm. As a Director, Jeannie concentrates her efforts on ensuring the advice provided across EQ is of an exceptional standard, putting in place processes and systems to ensure clients remain at the heart of their business.
As a Chartered Financial Planner and a fellow of the Personal Finance Society, David works directly with clients to create and manage their long-term financial planning strategies centred around a lifetime cashflow plan. David chairs and leads Paradigm Norton’s Investment Committee which oversees the investment portfolios for £1.5bn of client money. He has responsibility for the strategic development of their investment and platform operations.
Anthony has 30 years of experience in the financial services industry. As a Board Director of Clifton Asset Management Plc. Anthony has been a key contributor to the vision of Clifton Wealth and the services provided by the Clifton group. Anthony is a regular speaker at investment and financial services industry events and is highly regarded within the sector.
Sian is an experienced paraplanner and chartered associate of the London Institute of Banking & Finance. In 2020, Sian partnered with Nathan Fryer at Plan Works – venturing into outsourced paraplanning after a decade working with financial planners in a high street bank and within independent firms.
Tom was a financial journalist prior to joining the lang cat as a PR director. He spent more than six years at Professional Adviser, a couple of them as editor, before swapping the world of journalism for PR and marketing with (probably) the best cat-themed firm in financial services.
Tom has a passion for placing the client at the centre of everything he does and aspires to make each of his client sessions inspiring and enjoyable. Although Tom has a broad skill set he specialises in helping individuals or families coming to, or already in, retirement as well as those building, or wanting to pass on, wealth.
Natalie is content editor at the lang cat, Leith’s leading independent platform, pensions and investment consultancy, probably. She is responsible for curating the lang cat’s content for industry professionals, and for subscribers to Analyser, the lang cat’s suitability and due diligence software. Natalie joined the lang cat from Nucleus where she managed its practice development site Illuminate, and before that she was editor of Money Marketing.
Justin is a Chartered Financial Planner specialising in helping people retire successfully. He set up MFP Wealth Management, a family-run retirement planning firm in Mudeford, Dorset almost 15 years ago to help people who have worked hard, enjoyed financial success, and are looking to reap the rewards as they approach retirement.
Philip co-owns and manages Unique Financial Planning, a general advice business with over thirty advisers operating from offices in Surrey, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and Dorset, alongside a couple of other non-executive roles. Before this, he was Proposition and Marketing Director at Openwork for six years, with responsibility for product propositions, marketing, PR and leading its asset manager, Omnis Investments.
Rich is the Senior Analyst in the Insight Team at the lang cat and writes our quarterly Platform Market Scorecard (among other things) and has worked with or at platforms for the last 15 years ish. He’s also an expert in post-2003 UK fast punk and occasionally shouts at small crowds in small venues across the UK and Europe. Long-suffering Portsmouth FC fan. Full-time Pedro Pascal doppelganger.
Steve is the lang cat’s Insight Director, responsible for a wonderful team that manages the various research reports and initiatives within the organisation. Steve graduated with an extremely mediocre Computer Science degree from Edinburgh University, but like so many others in the city, Steve woke up one morning working in financial services and is still here nearly 20 years later.
Anna has over 15 years’ experience in financial services. After spending nine years at Raymond James Investment Services in relationship management and product development roles, Anna worked at Octopus Investments for six years in business development and distribution. Anna joined Fairstone in December 2019. As managing director of partnerships she is responsible for managing firms undergoing integration ahead of being acquired, working closely with them to drive growth, adoption of operational standards and cultural alignment.
Mark Polson is founder of the lang cat, Leith’s leading independent platform, pensions and investment consultancy, probably. The lang cat works with advisers, asset managers and providers, helping them develop better stuff and talk about it in a better way. Bit by bit, it aims to make the industry just a little bit less corporate and stuffy and more human.
John Porteous was appointed Managing Director of Central Financial Services in April 2021, having joined Charles Stanley as Head of Distribution in March 2019. Before that John was Retail Client Services Solutions Director at Quilter PLC and Director in charge of overall Client Proposition at Tilney (formerly Towry). John has served as a Director on a number of Professional and Trade Bodies. John is a Chartered Fellow of both the CISI and Personal Finance Society.
Victor is a multi award winning Independent Financial Adviser, working with Business owners. He prides himself on using ears and mouth in the proportions they were received.
Fiona is a specialist presenter and commentator on all areas of pension planning. She is qualified as a Fellow of the Personal Finance Society, and is a Vice-president of The Insurance Society of Edinburgh. Fiona has presented at adviser conferences for FT Adviser, Money Marketing and the Personal Finance Society, and is a regular contributor to the trade press and social media. She has also appeared on Sky News, the Today programme and Share radio.
Keith Wade is Chief Economist at Schroders. He is responsible for the economics team and the house view of the world economy. Keith reports to CIO and is a Member of the Group Asset Allocation Committee. His investment career started at Schroders in 1988 as UK economist and in 1992 he became Schroders’ senior economist responsible for international economic forecasting. Before Schroders he was a researcher at the London Business School's Centre for Economic Forecasting.
Helena is a chartered financial planner, business owner and co-founder at Money Means. She loves helping people figure out what money means to them. She started her first business aged 10 and realised that money, for her, means freedom.
Dan is an award winning Financial Adviser, working with young professionals, business owners, those in or coming up to retirement and high net worth individuals. He’s the PFS Yorkshire Education Ambassador, Education Champion of the Year 2022 and Regional Committee Member.
We provided the research for a report, in conjunction with Parmenion, which reveals how far short of expectations many adviser platforms are falling. The research found that over the last 12 months, 88% of advisers needed to apologise to at least one of their clients on behalf of a platform, and that poor service delivery from platforms impacts 91% of advisers every day.
We provided the research for a report, in conjunction with Parmenion, which reveals how far short of expectations many adviser platforms are falling. The research found that over the last 12 months, 88% of advisers needed to apologise to at least one of their clients on behalf of a platform, and that poor service delivery from platforms impacts 91% of advisers every day.
Service means a lot of things to a lot of different people. It’s so subjective it can be hard to put your finger on. This paper aims to challenge the status quo and inertia that’s built up in the sector for many years.
