The festive season is well and truly underway…our local radios station started playing Christmas songs this week and I’ve spotted whilst driving around the odd house looking rather festive.
Typically, at this time of year we’ve already put in our order for Christmas cards for our clients, professional partners and others that we may wish to send greetings and wishes to at this time of year, and are awaiting delivery.
The most important part of the advisory process is the very first meeting. We call it a Discovery meeting as we feel this defines succinctly what a first meeting should be about:
Discover ~ to see, gain knowledge of, learn of, find, or find out; to understand
It goes without saying that you need to be comfortable working with us and employing our services and it’s the right decision for you, hence we will clearly explain to you our services ~ what we can do and also what we don’t do.
Our experience tells us that you will benefit most from working with us if you have identified things are not as you desire, you value having a clear financial plan and are seeking a relationship that revolves around ongoing support and service.
I’ve just returned from three days at the Institute of Financial Planning Annual Conference held at Celtic Manor.
Taking 3 days out of my week to attend such an event for a business our size is a fairly big decision to take, yet based upon the insight gained from attending just one day last year I felt it was going to be a wise one.
Thankfully, I was not disappointed and you only have to view the #ifp twitter timeline to see that I’m not alone thinking so.
A conference is defined as a meeting of people who “confer” about a topic. The word confer is Latin in origin and literally means “bring together” That sums it up quite nicely for me.
It felt like a bringing together of individuals of a like mind, people who have common values and beliefs, who are open minded aswell as business focussed, wanting to improve, learn more and share with peers.
The diverse sessions I attended across the 3 days covered practice management, technical knowledge, ethics and professional standards and compliance.
The measure for me of the worthiness of attending was the array of information and ideas gleaned from the sessions attended as well as the planned and fortuitous meetings I had.
The development and implementation of The Retail Distribution Review (RDR) by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is a key part of the Government’s consumer protection strategy. The RDR development programme was launched in June 2006 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) with the intention of putting in place measures which will enhance consumer confidence in the retail investment market.
When RDR becomes active on 31st December 2012, consumers needing help and advice with their retirement and investment planning, should feel that they can have confidence and trust in the new RDR regulated retail investment market.
One significant area of change for businesses offering help and advice is that their advisers are required to meet new standards of professionalism from the end of 2012.
In the run-up to the implementation of the RDR, the FSA is reporting that firms may have advisers who are not yet adequately qualified for the post RDR era. Some may not yet have even embarked on the learning and training journeys that will ensure that they comply with RDR requirements by gaining the appropriate Statement of Professional Standing (SPS).
Indeed, a recent article in the financial press suggested that less than 40% of advisers had obtained an SPS.
Both advisers within IFS (Professional Connections) have an SPS, and indeed have had them for over 12 months. Moreover, both Paul and Gavin are Chartered Financial Planners
The FSA are now reinforcing the qualification requirement and reminding businesses and advisers about routes to gaining the SPS, including gap-fill, where existing qualifications will not satisfy the new RDR requirements.
The FSA have approved eight nationally accredited bodies who are the experts to be contacted to help identify and verify the gap-fill and qualification requirements, and to issue the SPS – including any deadline for submissions. The FSA provides information on their website about gaining RDR accreditation and continuing professional development, another key feature of adviser professionalism in the post-RDR era.
Advisers who already hold certain qualifications published in the FSA handbook must also carry out qualification gap-fill to meet the appropriate RDR requirements and the new standards, such as in ethics and investment risk. A variety of gap-fill opportunities are available, including e-learning packages, educational conferences, seminars and workshops. The FSA also reminds advisers that it is essential that any gap-fill activity carried out is capable of being independently verified by an accredited body.
As part of your own due diligence, it is prudent to check whether advisers and firms you have relationships with are on target to meet the increased level of qualifications by 31st December 2012:
Do your existing advisers have the appropriate Statement of Professional Standing?
Does the firm you work with and refer clients to have advisers who are not yet SPS ready?
Is it actively enabling them to achieve this status within FSA deadlines?
Looking ahead to 2013
When you look ahead to 2013, your glass could be half full or half empty. In the UK the lights have just gone out in the last Comet store. And yet Nissan are pumping £250m into Sunderland to build a luxury small car and create hundreds of jobs.
The employment data in the US has been consistently moving in the right direction for the last 27 months. But every 20 months the country finds itself another $1tn dollars in debt.
The World Bank has just revised its estimate of China’s growth for 2013 up to 8.4% – a level established economies in the West can’t even dream about. But China is in an increasingly bitter dispute with Japan over the Senkaku Islands. Meanwhile a North Korean rocket has been orbiting the Earth…
Share and Enjoy