/Advice and planning

State of the advice nation

State of the Advice Nation is the UK’s best insight into the UK advice profession, taking a sentiment-led approach to data. Wave 6 is now available.

What’s this SOTAN thing I keep hearing about?

Now in wave 6, State of the Advice Nation (SOTAN) is the UK’s best insight into the UK advice profession, taking a sentiment-led approach to data. What do we mean by that? Well, there’s no point finding out what people do and what they pick without trying to find out why.

In SOTAN you’ll get insight into:

  • What firms do. What are they choosing to piece together the technology, providers and investment propositions that support their advice processes. And why.
  • Pragmatic, usable, role-specific insight. What keeps business owners awake at night? In what regard do paraplanners feel they are held within the sector?
  • Practical, thematic insight. What are firms doing in response to consumer duty? How is the cost of living crisis and wider economic environment affecting financial plans?

That sounds great. How do I get SOTAN?

There are two paths to working with us.  

I’m a member of the advice profession and I want to find out how I compare to my peers?

Then you need to join 1,400 of your peers on the lang cat panel of advice professionals. You’ll get an email every now and again from Steve, Jenny, Kate and Liz in the panel team talking about the latest project. You’ll always get full disclosure of the nature of the project and there’s no obligation whatsoever to ever take part. Each project is significantly smaller than SOTAN but you’ll still be rewarded for your time. This will always include a full debrief of the project so you can see how you compare to your peers. Join here.  

I’m a member of a large organisation and I want to find out how best to work with the advice profession

Then you need to get in touch with the insight team to discuss how best we can support your business. The lang cat also produces reports and insight on the UK platform sector, DFM MPS market, the regulatory environment and the pensions landscape. We also offer our Analyser tool which includes comprehensive data on platforms, DFM MPS providers and a regulatory tracker tool. You should contact Steven@thelangcat.co.uk

/ Additional reports

The meaning of value 2024

For the second year running we’ve worked with Royal London to look into the meaning of value. We wanted to understand more about what consumers

Impact of poor service

/ White papers

The Impact of Poor Service

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.

Impact of poor service

/ White papers

The Impact of Poor Platform Service

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.

/ White papers

Answering the Call

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.