The Future of Financial Advice

Our Position in the Market    The Opportunity

Change sweeping the industry

The environment for financial services never stops changing and the revolution following depolarisation continues to evolve. Many of the traditional areas of sales have been swept away by a number of different forces. We believe that the days of the 'general practitioner' adviser, eking out a living in the domestic market are numbered.

The rapid growth of services on the Internet will have more and more effect on some parts of the investment market and also particularly on the protection market. Repeat investors who have a good idea what they are looking for will simply buy their ISA over the net. Straightforward protection will also be increasingly purchased this way.

What's Left?

So what is left of the great “middle market” that supported the bulk of the industry for many years? In the main it now comes down to protection products with a small amount of investment, plus of course, Stakeholder pensions… Therefore the days of regular client reviews for the average client on an annual basis have become unviable and not cost-effective unless the client is prepared to retain the adviser on a fee basis.

It is an understatement to suggest that the prospects in the broad, domestic-based market are not too rosy. And it may account for the demise of many direct sales forces; to the point where they are now almost a thing of the past.  Banks and Building Societies could be said to be the replacement and have grown in terms of their numbers of advisers.They succeed to the extent that they have a captive audience; again mainly in the domestic market. Many Bank advisers though, look to move to a more broad-based IFA role once they have the appropriate experience.

The IFA market too is not immune to the changes that have taken place but has more realistic opportunities to work in broader markets and should fare better given that it deals in general with more high net worth clients. But even the IFA will have a hard time unless he has access to a source of quality introductions.

Ashwood Law has as its core strategy, the aim of providing quality introductions to our advisers.  We achieve this through ongoing marketing intiatives.  Each of these taps into a different area of the market and suits different types of advisers. 

 Market Opportunities

Currently we are seeing a volatile investment market fired by the "credit crunch" and the erratic price of commodities both creating a lot of uncertainty. This uncertainty is when clients really want and need sound advice. We believe this creates oppotunities for quality advisers to thrive.

Market Positioning

Ashwood Law's philosophy is that it is the position in the market place that the financial adviser finds himself in that will determine his success or lack of it.  In other words, the old adage "A salesman without prospects has no prospects" applies.

In fact one could state further that it seems that success is likely to be more related to the positioning of the adviser than even his skill in advising and his technical and sales skills. He therefore needs to ally himself with an organisation that will help him develop introductions of high net worth or corporate clients.

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