Ultimately, the research concluded that 92.5 per cent of participants felt, that with the benefit of hindsight, they would encourage others to seek professional advice from a regulated financial adviser regarding the financial implications of long-term care.
All this means that an empathetic and expert financial adviser moves into an integral role, offering truly valued holistic and multi-generational advice for years to come.
To be honest, when I first enrolled in the degree course, I struggled to pinpoint the exact reason why I was doing it. I was already a chartered adviser; my business was doing well and there was no specific outcome or benefit that I could foresee. However, it ended up revolutionising my business. It made me more human, and more emotionally aware. It helped me find a niche in advising vulnerable clients, driven by passion and the opportunity to provide great outcomes for people, not just financially, but emotionally too.
Most importantly, it made me think critically, question things and gave me valuable insight into how my clients' minds work. Anyone who knows me will have heard me say “Just do good things, and good things will naturally happen in return.” – and since completing the degree, I have been featured in various publications, won a national award, started writing a book and speaking at events and taken on two board roles, one with SOLLA, and another as the chair of an ethics and scrutiny committee.
The diploma qualification may well be adequate for now and fit for giving a broad base level of knowledge of finance in general, however, I believe the best outcomes for clients can be found by advisers honing their skills in a niche and specialist area.
To do so, completing professional qualifications such as SOLLA, Divorce Expert (PODE), and Financial Abuse Specialist, will always be welcome, as will understanding wider perspectives from other organisations such as dementia friends, solicitors for the elderly and carers’ resource centres.
If advisers wish to work in this space, I feel that holding chartered status reflects the fact that clients are living increasingly complex and longer lives, bringing more issues with sustainability of income, and creating more potential for care fees and IHT, which often requires them to hold more sophisticated assets and potentially take more risks.
You should also be looking at implementing vulnerable client policies that offer clients shorter ‘layered’ meetings to make complex matters easier to digest and consider, as well as using multi-faceted communication methods, and encourage signposting to charities and advocates.
Finally, play to your strengths and use the members of your team who have buckets of natural emotional intelligence – make them your practice’s dedicated vulnerability champion, responsible for arranging charitable events and spotting potential flags in clients' behaviour.
