A letter from the editor ––
I have to admit to an element of clickbait in the headline of this story. Rest assured, Professional Paraplanner is not closing down – far from it.
But over the past few years the trend within publishing has been to move from the printed page to a purely digital/online format. This trend has been creeping up on us at PP for a while now and although we have tried hard to keep the printed magazine viable, unfortunately the market has moved against us. So our December 2022 issue, number 90, will be the last edition of the Professional Paraplanner magazine. We hope you’ve enjoyed every edition from our first issue of June 2014 until now.
The first edition featured John Redmond on the cover, now serving clients as a Chartered Financial Planner and Fellow of the PFS. That our last magazine issue should feature Caroline Stuart, recently elected as the first paraplanner President of the PFS, is fitting and shows how much the profile of paraplanning has risen within the financial planning profession in the intervening eight years.
Our focus for 2023 is on how we can continue to bring you insightful, practical and helpful content in an easily accessible and digestible format online.
We will be focussing on how we present our content to you both on the website and via our webinars and other digital opportunities, as well as getting back into the full swing of the Professional Paraplanner face-to-face events and roadshows.
The team has a lot of great ideas and new formats we want to roll out next year and we are looking forward to bringing you new and exciting content in 2023.
Please make sure you and your colleagues are signed up to receive our online communications to stay up to date with everything paraplanning.
2022 has continued the run of ‘interesting’ years we have experienced and 2023 is likely to be as challenging for many of us.
Nevertheless, for financial planning and paraplanning there are encouraging trends. Many financial planning firms report that contrary to the bad news around, their businesses have grown in the past year. A recent survey by Dynamic Planner found that 75% of firms are serving more clients than they were three years ago. The pandemic and recent market volatility, it seems, has brought home the need for and value of financial planning to more individuals and families in the UK. Nearly 60% of the advice firms surveyed expected their businesses to grow in 2023.
There is no doubt that better use and greater client familiarity with technology has helped to enable firms to serve more people in 2022; this is a trend I see growing in 2023 and beyond. We can expect to see increased use of digital services to help onboard and service clients, and notably to help businesses conform to the Consumer Duty, which comes into force proper from July 2023. Full digital servicing won’t be for every firm or client, and more complexl financial planning will always be delivered personally. But using technology there is a real opportunity for firms with the ambition to expand their operations to serve new clients, and hopefully deliver great advice to many more people in the UK, helping to close the advice gap.
But technology is only a part of the picture. I am convinced that financial planning firms would not be in the positive position they are enjoying now without the growth and development of the paraplanning profession over the past few years. Paraplanning has brought huge advantages to firms in the market. Where paraplanning sits at the heart of a business and becomes its engine room, those business can be seen to achieve great things, especially for their clients.
2023 is likely to be a challenging year on many fronts, both professionally and personally, but we are fortunate in that we work in a sector which, by and large, continues to operate during economic crises. In many ways it is at these times that financial planning becomes more important, as it is able to help people get through the hard times, and provide for their own and their families’ futures. As paraplanners you make a direct difference to people’s lives. Not many people can say that.
Thanks to every one of you who has read and contributed to Professional Paraplanner this year, and to our advertisers and sponsors without whom we wouldn’t be able to continue to deliver the content that we do.
With best wishes for the festive period and into 2023.
Rob Kingsbury
Editor
Professional Paraplanner
