Planners need to be able to offer clients wellbeing services as well as financial advice as more clients look to the profession for emotional support as well.
This what national independent financial adviser firm Continuum has said.
Funds and data provider Morningstar found that the majority (60%) of advised clients first turned to an adviser for an emotional reason instead of a financial one.
Continuum stated that this is an ideal time to make this point as the country is currently halfway through World Wellbeing Week.
Continuum explained that “financial advisers need to step up their game and offer more emotional, mental and general health support to their clients as well as their core financial security services.”
Continuum managing partner Martin Brown said: “Money is one of the most sensitive and at times uncomfortable subjects for many of us to talk about. A good independent financial adviser will build up their relationship with their clients to the point at which they are often one of their most trusted confidantes.
“Over the past three years we have noticed more and more clients turning to their financial adviser for emotional support and help with general wellbeing.
“At Continuum we believe personal wellbeing is the key to clients enjoying a satisfying, balanced and prosperous future.”
Continuum wellbeing service offers clients guidance on how to improve your resilience, top tips for being a better sleeper, exercise, working from home, as well as more financially focused wellbeing essentials such as budgeting and how to develop a healthy approach to money management.
Brown added: “The service from a good financial adviser should stretch way beyond just telling you what to do with your money.”
The Consumer Duty rules that take effect on 31 July 2023 requires advisers to provide additional care to ensure they meet the needs of “vulnerable customers”.
The Financial Conduct Authority definition of a “vulnerable customer” is “someone who, due to their personal circumstances, is especially susceptible to harm, particularly when a firm is not acting with appropriate levels of care.”
Additionally, according to the FCA’s Financial Lives Survey in 2020, 46% of UK adults (equivalent to 24 million people) showed one or more characteristics of vulnerability.
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