Good morning and welcome to your Morning Briefing for Monday 12 February 2024. To get this in your inbox every morning click here.
Evelyn Partners boosts East Anglia team with new appointment
Evelyn Partners has appointed Daniel Lewis as an investment director in its Chelmsford office.
The wealth-management and professional-services group says that Lewis’ appointment further demonstrates its “commitment to investing in its people in East Anglia”.
Prior to his appointment, Lewis spent 22 years as an investment manager at Quilter Cheviot.
Middle-aged people in a relationship find it easier to plan for retirement
Research from Phoenix Group’s think tank Phoenix Insights found 45% of those aged 45-54 think it is easier to plan for retirement when in a long-term relationship.
This is compared to 16% who disagreed with this.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) in 2019 found that people who live alone spend on average 92% of their disposable income each month.
This is compared to people in two-adult households who spend only 83% on average.
When good advice turns bad
Financial education and guidance often go hand in hand with good financial advice, writes Amanda Newman Smith, particularly when advisers are engaged with social media.
It is not unusual to see posts from advisers and others in related professions — including lawyers, accountants and personal finance journalists — highlighting the significance of certain aspects of financial planning.
However, there may be instances where well-meaning posts aimed at educating people and nudging them in the right direction could set some on an unsuitable path.
Quote Of The Day
Higher earners who battened down the hatches to weather the storm need to open them up and check the weather, because for the well-paid, the sun is coming out
-Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, on why higher-rate taxpayers who paused longer-term planning in tough times should now restart
Stat Attack
A new report, ‘Making Points Go Further’, looks at how UK public spending and behaviour towards loyalty programmes has changed in the last year, in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
74%
of respondents say they use loyalty programmes to supplement their income and save money.
92%
are a member of a loyalty programme, up 17% from last year.
82%
use loyalty points to make future purchases cheaper
66%
use loyalty points to reduce the weekly food shop.
Source: Virgin Red
In Other News
GovGrant, the UK R&D tax credits and innovation specialists, have officially rebranded as Source Advisors as of 1st February 2024.
The change creates a unified brand following the acquisition of GovGrant by Source Advisors LLC, a specialised tax consulting firm based in Texas, and is set to give UK tax and accounting professionals access to advisors globally.
Adopting a one Source Advisors brand brings together the global expertise of over 250 professionals. It also provides a platform for exponential growth at a time where clients need to know they can trust the advisor with whom they are working.
The company’s new Source Advisors brand will be used on all of its communications from 1st February 2024.
Luke Hamm, Managing Director of Source Advisors, said: “Being One Team, One Brand, One Source unites global expertise and provides the platform to create even more distance between us and our competitors. It gives us the depth and firepower to be able to consolidate and become that specialist who leads the market as the most trusted advisor.
“As the UK market consolidates, accountancy firms and other advisors will be selective about the firms they join forces with. Our longstanding reputation, with the firepower of the Source Advisors brand, will be reassuring to any business who is looking for integrity and expertise in this industry.
“There will be no changes in personnel other than the new faces we are recruiting to support our plans for growth. We continue to provide unique expertise, tailored solutions and stellar client service.”
From Elsewhere
UK set to learn if recession started after months of stagnation (Bloomberg)
Private equity chiefs enjoy $40bn gain in share value as assets surge (Financial Times)
How the working-from-home boom has left slim pickings for burglars (The Guardian)
Did You See?
January was a key month in the advice tech world, writes FTRC founder Ian McKenna, with two very significant conferences taking place: Empowering Advice Through Technology (EATT) here in the UK and Technology Tools for Today (T3) in the US.
The former, now in its fifth year, was heavily focused on the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in advice and included several firms showing new AI propositions for the first time.
A key part of EATT is the “battle of the tech” sessions, where 16 different software vendors present their propositions in eight minutes or less, with four achieving “best in show”.
This year’s event had a diverse group of winners but, unsurprisingly, two were AI firms.
Read the full story here.
