Our regulator recently carried out a survey – which, as we generally get fined if we don’t respond, can be said to be fairly representative. One finding was that more than 80% of advisers are male and more than half of firms have no female advisers – although, interestingly, 60% of adviser clients are ladies (sorry, avoiding overuse of ‘female’). In our small world, over 30% of our advisers are, but that’s a small sample of 1/3. And many, including our 1/3, would say it doesn’t matter, a client is a client and an adviser an adviser. In medicine, law and accountancy, however, it’s now 50% or more. The problem remains a lack of awareness of what our job is (once you’ve done your exams, mostly talking to people); what makes it great (mostly talking to people; and how to get into it. Which is anything but clear as only a child’s handful of universities offer any vaguely financial-planning-related degrees.
Budget Rumours and Possibilities
The Budget Rumour Machine is not the shambles it was last year. Before Rachel’s Swansong all sorts of stuff was leaked to see what sort of puddle it would create.
