I attended last week’s CISI / IFP Paraplanning Conference at Hinckley in Leicestershire. It was a big success and yet...something is still missing from the burgeoning Paraplanning profession and something quite big. It needs a new direction.

The CISI's Financial Planning Week, which gets under way today, is by far the best campaign of the year in terms of encouraging consumers to learn more about the benefits of sound, long term Financial Planning in its widest sense.

We're a tough breed in journalism but the death of Succession founder Simon Chamberlain shocked and saddened me deeply recently - as it did many readers who contacted us. Despite this I believe Simon's death teaches us all many lessons but perhaps not the obvious ones.

It’s not a merger but it is a step forward for the Chartered adviser bodies and the Financial Planning profession and it’s long overdue.