You are probably asking yourself, aren’t you a Financial Adviser Chris?
Yes, but before you judge, read on.
Having been in the financial services industry for over 15 years I have heard countless people talk about the lack of engagement from the general public in financial advice.
“Only 10% of the Australian adult population engages the services of a Financial Adviser” I have heard numerous times. “What an opportunity for Financial Advisers” they say.
“The Advice industry needs to embrace technology to help increase the number of Australians that seek advice” writes industry leaders.
It is true that there is a severe lack of engagement in Financial Advice by adults in Australia. And it is also true that the Financial Advice industry as a whole has tried to increase the engagement and support of those within the industry to help provide advice to more Australians.
But it is just not working.
In 2017, Scott Papes Book, the Barefoot Investor was the number 1 best selling book.
What does this tell you?
Firstly, Scott is an amazing and passionate advocate for helping people achieve their financial goals.
His blogs, articles, radio segments and books provide easy to follow advice and he has been able to help numerous people out from some pretty terrible financial positions through his advice.
But he is not a Financial Adviser as the industry sees it.
In fact, many in the Financial Advice industry despise him because he tells the truth about the industry.
Scott has shone the light on some of the terrible practices that have gone on in the Financial Advice industry.
From products with crazy high commissions to just plain bad advice, Scott and many on the outside of the industry have exposed what those working in the industry have known for a while.
There is a lot of bad advice being provided.
Not that advisers are bad. In fact the many I know and have met over my 15 years provide fantastic advice that their clients value and have been able to implement to achieve goals for their clients.
It’s just that the vast majority of people in Australia don’t want the Financial Advice that the majority of Financial Advisers give.
And that is as simple an answer as I can give as to why people don’t engage a Financial Adviser.
They just don’t want to.
A fantastic entrepreneur and someone who has provided amazing value in my business journey Daniel Priestley from Dent Global once wrote how you can go broke in business trying to provide people what they need, not what they want.
Is it about time that the Financial Advice Industry accepted that the vast majority of people in Australia do not want Financial Advice.
They might need it, but they just don’t want it.
Rather than trying to shove the need for Financial Advice down people’s throats, how about as an industry, we concentrate on telling people the problems that we can solve for them in language they might actually understand.
Perhaps something like – you are too busy to start your Financial Plan. Or, you have taken an ad hoc approach to your Finances and it hasn’t worked. Or simply, you are tired of getting the wrong financial advice from the wrong people.
Let those who feel they have those problems and actually want to do something about it seek out advice.
Those who don’t have problems they want to fix, give them a copy of Scott’s book (or they can have a copy of mine!).
People just don’t want a Financial Adviser and the vast majority of Australians will be better off if the Financial Advice industry simply accepted this and supported those that do want a Financial Adviser.
If you do feel you are suffering from the problems I mentioned and do want to do something about it, you can pre register for our next 5@50 event here.
