Will you be a financial business winner or loser this year?

Britain is (finally) back at work. In offices around the country there is a focus on the future, with business owners planning changes that can help improve and strengthen the bottom line and improve client outcomes.

In spite of (or should that be because of?) the uncertainty around Brexit and other world economic events, most financial advisers and all financial planners are well placed to maximise opportunities to grow their business as those with assets to manage look to the experts for guidance.

Planners are well placed

Why only ‘most’ financial advisers? For those who manage their clients’ investments in-house, my guess is they are going to be extremely busy trying to keep up with market fluctuations and making decisions about what might be best for their clients, rather than planning a business growth strategy.

Nobody has a crystal ball and making decisions about asset allocations and whether to cut and run to cash is stressful for anyone, let alone an adviser on whose shoulders all the responsibility for portfolio structure sits.

Out-sourcing to an investment specialist

Financial planners are less likely to be at the coal face of investment, often working with an investment specialist to manage what is just one aspect of their service to clients. This means they should have more time to focus on the holistic needs of their clients and to plan how their business can be structured to service a larger number of them and build overall revenue.

Taking time to focus on the nuts and bolts of how a business is operating and how it can be improved should never be regarded as a luxury. Technology is delivering opportunities for radical growth through increased efficiencies yet adoption of new ways of working inevitably takes time.

As market volatility increases, advisers who rely on themselves to manage their clients’ investment portfolios will see their time focused on mitigating investment risk, rather than on building revenue, which is not good news for the long-term health and wealth of their business.