Does talk of ROBO-advice give you an Orwellian moment or are you sanguine about the impact it will have on the financial advice market?
The Government is keen to see more open access to financial advice for all types of people, regardless of their wealth and it’s likely that robo-advice, in the form of simplified advice, will be the route most likely to offer a solution.
If you’re a financial adviser with a client base of wealthy individuals and a profitable bottom line you may well be supressing a yawn at the very mention of simplified advice. Yet is it wise to dismiss it out of hand?
Automation is a fact of life and the massive leaps in technology we’re seeing are changing the very nature of the way we behave. More importantly it’s changing the way we need to think about how we do business.
A wealthy client may well be happy to continue to deal with their adviser in the traditional way and not expect access to simplified advice. But they may be keen for others in their family – perhaps their offspring, or less wealthy parents for instance – to access financial advice and they may be disappointed if their adviser doesn’t have a low cost option to offer them. This may spark them to look around at what else is on offer, creating opportunities for advisers who have structured their businesses to offer options for all types of people, with price points to match.
It may not happen today, or even this year, but I am convinced that the time is approaching when financial advisers will have to offer online, low cost options alongside the more personal advice and planning.
