Proving the Value of Advice

On 16 July, unbiased.co.uk and Standard Life hosted the media launch of the Value of Advice campaign at the Gherkin in London.  This is an important campaign in the run up to RDR to help consumers understand why they should be taking independent financial advice.  Journalists from What Investment, Mail on Sunday and CityAM, among others, joined media IFAs Georgina Partridge (Plutus Wealth Management) and Minesh Patel (EA Financial Solutions) in a roundtable debate focusing on the key findings of the research and the need for a campaign of this nature.

The key findings of the research are:

• The advised group, despite having similar income, includes a much higher proportion of people with life insurance, pension provisions and investment products than the non-advised group.

• The current average pension pot for consumers who have been advised on their retirement planning is £74,554.30, double that of those not seeking advice.

• Those who have taken advice put nearly a third more a month into their pension plan.

• On investments, people with an adviser save for longer and contribute more, leaving them an average investment value over £40,000 higher than for those who haven't sought advice.

All of these findings suggest that taking independent financial advice has a vital part to play in the health of consumer finances and it can have a tangible positive effect on consumers' financial security.

For more information about the Value of Advice here.