Nearly 1,500 Financial Planners, Paraplanners and advisers have attended the two PFS ‘Forces’ Financial Planning Symposiums which end in London today.

Storm Troopers, Chewbacca and a host of Star Wars-themed characters appeared at the two events.

The first event took place at the Macron Stadium in Bolton last week with 500 attending on the day. The two day London event took place at London’s InterContinental Hotel at the O2 and attracted about 1,000 attendees today and yesterday.

Both events include a large exhibition area and speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds including Financial Planning, investment, pensions, politics, economics and science.

PFS chief executive Keith Richards said the events had enjoyed “a real buzz’ with attendees enjoying the mix of fun and serious professional and technical sessions along with motivational speakers including female astronaut Helen Sharman.

Many stands were themed on Star Wars or space exploration and many of the speakers managed to weave space exploration themes into their talks. Mr Richards, for example, was escorted on stage by Storm Troopers when he addressed the audience, receiving loud applause.

He told Financial Planning Today: “The theme of Star Wars was chosen because it underlines the growth of Financial Planning as a force for good. The industry has changed into a profession with the ability to change people’s lives and we should celebrate that.”

“The theme has been very well received by everyone with lots of people enjoying the fun and the serious sessions alongside that.

“Across the two events we’ve attracted just under 1,500 members all of whom seemed to value the content and enjoyed being able to network with like minded professionals.

“The highlights for me are always the positive feedback we get from members attending and we have had some excellent comments this year.”

Speakers included Conservative MP John Redwood, economist Trevor Williams, UCL’s Frank Witte, and Jason Whyte of EY. Leading Financial Planner and author Chris Budd of Ovation Finance also spoke along with ex-FCA executive Rory Percival, Justin Urquhart Stewart of 7IM and Mark Polson of the langcat consultancy.

Mr Richards said the popular PFS Financial Planning Festival, which took place at the NEC last year and attracted 3,500 attendees, may be repeated in future due to demand but the PFS would also be expanding its PowerLive Financial Planning events and running other events next year.

•  The annual PFS Awards dinner took place last night. Among the winners were:

• Chartered Financial Planning Firm of the Year: Eldon Financial

• Chartered Financial Planner of the Year: Natalie Wright of Mazars 

• Paraplanner of the Year Jade Mountford.

A full list of adviser winners will be published in due course