The advice gap, and how to attract the next generation of clients, have become perennial talking points in the advice industry.
Technology has been suggested as a way to address both challenges, but a more "back to basics" approach of financial coaching could also be an answer.
Within the space of just over a month, Charles Stanley, Evelyn Partners and Octopus Group have all launched a coaching service.
In contrast to when robo-advice was seen as a potential solution to the advice gap, what each of these new coaching services has in common is that clients can talk to a real person. “Ditch the robots – get personalised help from a human,” reads Octopus Money’s website.
Back to basics
Lisa Caplan, director of OneStep Financial Planning at Charles Stanley, says the feedback the wealth manager received for its planning service was that people appreciate the personal element.
“People really like… seeing someone, and talking to a real person. It was something that they valued a lot, and that’s really what the essence of coaching is.”
After launching a fixed fee, ‘OneStep Financial Planning’ service last year, in June Charles Stanley Direct followed up with the launch of ‘OneStep Financial Coaching’. Clients can have a free, 15-minute phone call with a qualified financial planner, or a one-hour video call at £150.
But Caplan says that offering a coaching service was not part of the original plan when Charles Stanley launched the fixed-fee planning service last year.
“It’s very much come out of our experience with OneStep Financial Planning – and also my experience talking to clients – that sometimes people just need a 15-minute phone call.”
In terms of what people ask during the 15-minute coaching calls, Caplan says she has been asked about pensions, inheritance tax and mortgages.
“We’re not mortgage brokers, but I talk about fixes coming to an end and having a plan for that, and if you’ve got an interest-only mortgage, having a plan for when that comes to an end.
“And I have seen some questions about investment unease – so our Charles Stanley Direct clients who selected their own investments and feel it’s been a bad couple of years.
“I can’t give investment advice [during a coaching call], but I can talk about markets and investment principles with them which they find helpful, and they find it helpful talking to someone about it.”
Coaching and advice as complements
As an existing wealth manager, Caplan says this makes it easier to set up a coaching service. “There are many people who say they offer financial coaching. We offer financial coaching with qualified financial advisers, and I have all the support that exists in Charles Stanley.
“What’s also good is, I have already in one phone call identified someone who needed full financial advice, and I was able to easily (and in a pleasant way for the client) hand them over to somebody else, and that worked well.”
