Nearly 80 firms are supporting the week-long campaign as CISI consumer research shows that many consumers are still wary of using a financial adviser. This consumer wariness is a shame but trust is a key issue and campaigns such as Financial Planning Week #FPWUK are a brilliant way to improve the levels of trust. With better levels of trust the impact on the advice sector could be profound.
Consumers will use brands and organisations they trust and avoid those they mistrust. Financial advice has suffered for too long from an image problem and a poor reputation and it needs to do more to eradicate this. Financial Planning Week is one of the answers.
This week hundreds of Financial Planners will be giving up their valuable time to help the public, whether it's through fee initial advice sessions, open house surgeries, public relations, media articles or something else. The point is that there is a focus on raising the profile of Financial Planning and many members of the public, who possibly have little idea of the benefits of Financial Planning, will come in to contact with Financial Planners and Financial Planning possibly for the first time (see our coverage elsewhere on this website).
The campaign was started by the IFP nearly 10 years ago and it is good to see it continued by the CISI. Perhaps in future years, under the aegis of the Chartered Bodies Alliance, other professional bodies will back this worthy campaign.
This year the Financial Planning Week 2017 campaign will be spearheaded by the CISI's leading Accredited Financial Planning Firms, the mostly larger firms. They and others will be offering a mix of:
•Free consultation surgeries, either in person, via Skype or over the phone. These can be worth up to £500 each, says the CISI, and are being offered by CFPTM professionals throughout the UK.
•Answering consumer questions on the CISI ‘Ask a Planner’ section on the consumer-focused and CISI-led Wayfinder website.
•Talks to schools across the country about the merits of the Financial Planning profession.
Firms across the UK have signed up to support the campaign including the 13 regional offices of Mazars, an Accredited firm. They all deserve praise for their backing.
The CISI has a dedicated webpage with the contact details and logos of all the firms involved which will then lead through to the Wayfinder website which will provide an online focus during the week.
Many people will say why doesn't this good work continue all year round and, in truth, it would be good if it could. The promotion of good quality financial advice remains disjointed in the UK at best with a series of professional bodies, government agencies, charities and commercial organisations all offering their own version of consumer support, some competing with each other.
A joint campaign, perhaps built around Financial Planning Week and its lasting legacy, may be the best way forward but sadly it won't happen tomorrow and inevitably resources are limited.
In the meantime, Financial Planning Week is a pretty good try so if you are a Financial Planner, Paraplanner or Wealth Manager and you are not yet supporting the campaign I urge you to find out more this week and try to make a commitment to support it next year (or even do something minor this year if you have time, even if it's no more than re-Tweeting something about the campaign to your followers).
Financial Planning Today will be doing its bit by covering the campaign and providing regular updates on what's happening this week.
If just half the the Financial Planners in the UK supported the campaign in even a minor way the numbers of consumers being reached would soar providing a benefit for all consumers in terms of awareness and ultimately also helping firms to find good, new clients. A twin benefit that should not be underestimated.
Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a financial journalist with over 20 years of experience. He has edited leading publications, written for national newspapers including the FT and appeared on TV and radio.
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