An extreme example of the dangers of DIY investing, admittedly. A gambling addict who’d given up, obviously before he’d gambled everything away, and had some money to invest. He transferred his combined pension pot to Hargreaves Lansdown and moved it through a series of high risk investments until £220,000 was reduced to £3,000. He then complained, on the basis that they should have stopped him. And the answer from both Hargreaves Lansdown and the Ombudsman is, no, they had no actual legal or regulatory duty to do so, any more than might those endlessly-advertising Betfreds and NickNackPaddyPowers. Had an adviser advised him to lose all of his money, or taken his orders to invest, then he would have had a comeback. But, if you decided to go it alone, then you’re on your own, it seems. Unadvised investors in future Woodfords, take note.
“Why people over the age of 55 are the new problem generation”
I suspect that many a ‘boomer’ might be pleased with the ‘problem generation’ label. When they were teen- or twenty-somethings, their parents’ generation may well have either despaired of them or worried about the world into which they were emerging as adults; it will ever be thus.