Advisers could provide free information in a digital product in a bid to improve financial literacy, according to Bola Sol, financial adviser and author.
In a fireside chat with FT Adviser, Sol discussed her mission to educate one million women about financial literacy by 2025 as well as why she decided to become a qualified adviser.
She said: “I have free debt trackers I provide. If advisers can’t necessarily help, they could provide a product that people don’t necessarily need to buy or if they do it is a decent price, which could get people started on their journey.
“We cannot treat people like they are profit numbers, we need to treat them like humans.
"We are in a place where the capitalistic system isn’t necessarily working the way it used to. Let’s treat people with dignity and try to give back to as many people as possible. Even if it just means apologising and saying ‘sorry I don’t have the time to help you but here is some information that can help'.”
Sol has 34,500 followers on Instagram and uses her platform to help spread financial education to the masses but understood social media was not for everyone.
“I find a lot of the people I speak to are under served but what happens if someone wants to speak to an adviser who says 'this is our upfront fee' which could be half someone’s salary.
“I have finance Friday’s where people can ask me questions. I have had to make myself very available to people and that has been a personal choice.
“I see why some advisers don’t like social media, many of them don’t have the time. They are speaking to so many clients within each quarter so I understand they don’t have time to pop on a screen and educate people,” she added.
This was why Sol wrote her book ‘Your Money Life: How to afford the future you want’ to provide a resource for those people who were unable to access advice or had low financial literacy levels.
“In my book I speak about insurance, wills, being married and tax allowances just so that people have that go-to guide,” she explained.
Sol also added a chapter about how the economy affects people because she felt if people were more aware of this, there were many things they could do differently.
To watch the full interview click the link above.
