Fidelity has published a number of reports that provide insight and focus on key areas of the industry for financial planning firms. Most of the reports are quick reads but provide powerful insights into key issues for the financial advice community.
The first report, Unlocking the power of advice, follows on from a 2018 report The Financial Power of Women, which set out to find working solutions to help women ‘GET INvested’.
Women face a significant financial challenge: the gender pay gap, the gender pension gap, and the belief that investing in the stock market ‘isn’t for them’.
In Fidelity’s latest report, Unlocking the Power of Advice, the spotlight is turned onto the industry to look at the barriers stopping women from accessing advice, how the barriers may be overcome, and the opportunities for advice firms.
As part of the study, Fidelity spoke to a range of financial advisers as well as to women of different ages across the country. The research highlighted that there are still issues to address in every age group.
For example, half of IFAs reported losing female clients once that client’s partner had passed away. Other advisers told the study that some divorcing women were not used to managing the finances within their home, and that this had been looked after by their husband. Some consumers spoken to reported feeling intimidated, or that they didn’t have enough wealth to justify advice.
The report is about identify ways of engaging more people to take financial advice across the board, but is specifically about the role financial advice can play in helping women start to decrease the gap that still exists, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds, at retirement.
It looks closely at the role that financial advice could play in helping women – of all ages – to unlock their financial power, why and how advisers should target more female clients, and the obstacles that lie in the way.
You can download the full report and a shorter summary from this page: https://adviserservices.fidelity.co.uk/news-insights/financial-power-of-women/
Practitioner insights on managing an advice business
This series of reports provides insights into managing an advice business. The reports are aimed at understanding the challenges firms face and look at specific aspects of running an advice firm –entitled ‘IFA DNA’. There are three reports:
• How the advice sector is adapting to the coronavirus crisis
• The changing picture of financial advice
• Skills of the modern financial adviser
You can download them from this page: https://adviserservices.fidelity.co.uk/news-insights/business-challenges-facing-financial-advisers/
