Use of digital guidance and advice will increase rapidly in 2023 as the cost of living crisis and the deepening impact of the recession will see more people seek help with financial management, predicts Wealth Wizards.
Nick Hall, business development director, Wealth Wizards, says: “As the cost of living crisis bites harder and the full force of the recession impacts the UK, more people will be looking for ways to get through what the Bank of England believes will be a two-year recession. We need to deliver more creative, impactful ways to help more people understand better and balance their finances.
“Financial advice groups as well as assurers, banks and building societies are knowledgeable and trusted sources and therefore ideally positioned to offer help and guidance. This support is most efficiently and cost-effectively delivered through digital resources.
“Those individuals and families already receiving financial advice are going to be best placed to weather this two-year storm. However, those sitting in ‘The Advice Gap’ will be looking for help as they struggle with higher inflation, interest rates, cost of living and taxation. More and more people want to understand how today’s choices will affect their future finances.
“For advice businesses, before better times return, this is the perfect opportunity to build trust in their brand. [They] can utilise digital guidance to bring on new clients and service them through a customer-led, human-assisted process. This is a guided process to help people better understand their finances, culminating in a transaction. If their needs are more complex, for example, estate planning or tax, human-assisted financial advice is offered.
Hall continues: “Digital advice and guidance equip individuals to understand their current financial situation fully. By inputting alternative budgets, saving and investment figures, they can ascertain the impact on their future financial management and well-being.
And as digital services are available 24/7, they can do so at their convenience and, if they wish, alongside family and friends.
“Digital guidance and advice are a ‘win-win’ for businesses and individuals. It improves people’s financial and overall well-being by building their financial literacy, confidence and, in turn – their engagement. For businesses, an increase in caseload is facilitated by a more efficient, effective service capable of impacting the advice gap by nurturing the next generation in ‘the wealth wave’ to come.”
