09/07/2021
What stops people from seeking financial advice?
Some interesting research published by Royal London recently on the advice gap revealed some really interesting reasons why so many people don’t seek out advice on their finances.
By far the biggest reason was the belief that it’s too expensive. 47% of people who hadn’t taken advice cited this as the main barrier, despite 40% of those having no expectation as to what an adviser might charge.
35% of non-advised customers had a very different view and believe they can look after their own money. Some people can, of course, but our previous research showed that most people feel more confident about their finances and indeed are financially better off if they do take advice.
Almost 1 in 3 (29%) non-advised customers felt they couldn’t trust a financial adviser, or perhaps more accurately, they didn’t know how to find a good one. 45% said they believe advisers are only interested in selling them something.
Finally, 17% of non-advised customers are either too proud or just embarrassed to talk to someone about how to manage their finances. Notably, 32% of all those people we interviewed said they would find it more appealing if they could do everything digitally.
I have to admit that I was guilty of making some of these assumptions about my own finances. It wasn’t until I was 35 that I started to get some advice. It’s never too early (or too late) to speak to a Financial adviser. Now that I work in the industry, the benefits for people taking advice are very clear.
