The spark which created this blog stemmed from the home of ideas (good and bad), the pub, one sunny Friday spring evening. A friend and I were laughing about a memory from our school days when eventually we got onto the more serious and certainly not as exciting topic of pensions and mortgages. We became increasingly aware that over the last few years we had gotten a little bit older and had a lot more financial responsibilities.

As our conversation evolved he was quizzing me all sorts of things that I had taken for granted knowing. Bits and pieces of information that I had picked up from my time at University, undertaking professional qualifications, or gained through experience working in the financial services profession.

In the space of half a pint of Mad Goose the realisation hit me that young people on the whole are rarely, if ever, taught much about the financial services world if you didn’t seek it out after school. It is seen as a ‘life skill’ where people figure it out on their own, trial and error, reading newspapers, listening to product providers, relying on banks, asking their parents, hearsay from the pub, or simply using their gut feeling.

If you have read any of the financial press over the last few months you may have come across the term ‘advice gap’. This is defined as those who cannot pay, will not pay, or do not realise that they need professional regulated financial advice – often referring to those whose retirement is imminent. The ‘advice gap’ has come about due to a culmination of events which I won’t delve into now, but whichever way you look at it the problem stems from one core issue in my view – lack of financial understanding.

There is a huge amount of misinformation and noise in the financial services sector, the concept of ‘fear & greed’ driving people’s actions is typically at the forefront. This has been increasingly compounded by our world becoming more globalised and technologically-advanced, chances are the vast majority of us can access a near-bottomless pit of information on tap through smart devices in our pockets or bags.

Professional wealth management and financial advice is extremely important. Every individual is different, each has their own wants and needs, their own vision on how they want their wealth to work for them. The financial services world is constantly evolving, rules and legislation come and go at a frightening rate. You will hopefully recall The Budget which occurs each year in the spring where the Chancellor of the Exchequer stands up in Westminster to explain how the Government is going to spend our money.

Economic cycles and  Often those who seek professional advice are 40 or 50 some-things who have started to realise their dream of retirement isn’t all that far away. They look through the financial statements and paperwork that they’ve had tucked away at the back of a wardrobe for the last 20 years, coming to the stark realisation that they had ntp

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Good luck.

Fin.