If the financial adviser community had to name its influencer de rigueur, it would probably be Chris Budd. Budd’s commentary on all things pertaining to ‘Financial Wellbeing’ (‘The Financial Wellbeing Book’ is the title of one of his books), humorous Twitter quips and business process improvement nous make him a viable candidate.
Budd posed a question to his Twitter followers which turned into a pretty useful thread for financial advisers and paraplanners hoping to get more of an insight into what life as a practising FA is really like – beyond the number-crunching. The question was simple: “#IFATweet Question for advisers. What are the 3 most common questions/issues prospective clients come to you for help with?”
A key CPD concern for financial advisers is client handling, relationship management and customer service. Although deploying these ‘soft skills’ effectively is intuitive for many, they are hard to hone without practice and others. Budd’s Tweet is helpful, albeit simple, as it opens up the floor for advisers to politely vent and compare notes on common client themes; which in many cases are more to do with customer service than knowing your ISAs from your LISAs, as they offer insight into some customers’ deepest and most personal financial fears.
So, after all that context, what exactly were the three top “questions/issues”?! Replies from advisers to the thread mentioned retirement planning, pension confusion and choosing investment vehicles with limited risk several times. Although Budd hasn’t quantified ‘the top three’ in so many words, the thread is certainly worth a browse.
More important than the information itself, Budd’s tweet is reassuring. It brings together members of the advice community from disparate geographical locations; who appear to face similar issues and ultimately, can adopt similar solutions.
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