IFA Talk

This week’s podcast will be focusing on a hot topic of the moment, AI and how this impacts the investment industry. We are living in a world of rapid technological innovation, where AI is on an exponential upward curve. The asset management industry stands on the edge of a transformation and has potentially a lot to benefit from these advancements. 

Insurance and protection as part of financial planning can often be overlooked or treated as an afterthought when in reality it should form part of the cornerstone of financial planning for many clients. 

So, on this week’s podcast Jenny and Brandon focus on insurance and protection, and in particular policy ownership, with their guest Gregor Sked, Senior Protection Technical Manager at Royal London. 

Has your client retirement proposition evolved following the publication of the FCA's thematic review of retirement income advice? In March, the FCA wrote to the Chief Executives of financial advice firms asking them to review their processes when providing retirement income advice. 

This thematic review has pretty massive implications for the advice profession. The regulator will be looking for clear evidence that advice firms are heeding its messages, making sure that they are delivering robust retirement income advice to clients.

So, what do advisers need to know? What do they need to do? Sue and Brandon’s guest on this week’s IFA Talk podcast is Richard Parkin, Head of Retirement for BNY Investments – someone who is hugely knowledgeable on this subject.

In this conversation, Richard succinctly sums up the five key findings of the review and discusses not only what they mean for advisers but also what advisers could/should be doing in response.   With retirement income advice forming such an important part of the advice process, this is a podcast not to be missed.

Are you a paraplanner? Or maybe you’re an adviser or wealth manager who works with paraplanners? If so, this week’s podcast is for you.

This week, Sue and Brandon speak to The Lang Cat’s Steve Nelson about their sixth annual State of the Advice Nation report – all about Paraplanning.

It’s refreshing to hear such an influential and successful organisation highlighting what can often be an underrepresented profession within financial services.

Steve was a pleasure to have on the podcast and his dynamic personality really brought this project to life. He talked passionately about the results of the report including what can be done to make sure Paraplanner roles are more clearly defined going forward and whether Paraplanning is starting to bring more diversity to the industry. To wrap up Steve gets his crystal ball out and we got his thoughts on what he thinks the future holds for Paraplanners.

This conversation certainly uncovered some interesting stuff.

On this, the latest Insurance & Protection special edition of our IFA Talk podcast, Sue and Brandon are joined by the highly charismatic and influential voice that is Rose St Louis, Protection Director at Lloyds Banking Group.

Their conversation with Rose, formerly a financial adviser herself, is perfect for today’s Consumer Duty landscape. Not only does it delve into the importance of financial resilience and all-round holistic advice -  but the conversation also draws out plenty of practical tips from Rose. There’s much food for thought for advisers and paraplanners to consider in relation to how you approach and deliver protection advice, providing even better outcomes for clients.

Sue and Brandon’s guest on this week’s IFA Talk is Gillian Hepburn, Commercial Director of Benchmark, a leading provider of financial planning solutions and a part of the Schroders Group. 

In this episode, their conversation drills down into why Consumer Duty is about evolution not revolution and also some of the finer points about how the industry is adapting to life in this new regulatory environment, including the increased drive towards networks.  

Sue and Brandon’s guest on the podcast today is Tom Adcock, Tax Partner at Gravita – and a former HMRC tax inspector.

In this week’s Insurance and Protection special edition of our IFA Talk podcast, Sue and Brandon’s guest is Ryan Griffin. Ryan is Protection Director at dedicated life insurance provider, Beagle Street.

Sue and Brandon’s guest this week is Paul Hogg, Head of Distribution at 8AM. 8AM are providers of data-driven investment solutions in the model portfolio space, with a clear evidence and outcomes based focus. 

In this conversation with Sue and Brandon, Matthew Norris, Head of Real Estate Securities and adviser to the VT Gravis Digital Infrastructure Income and VT Gravis UK Listed Property strategies at Gravis, drills down into exactly how it’s changed, into why it’s no longer about offices and shopping centres. As he explains, it’s now all about next generation property, about REITs and how the fourth industrial revolution is changing the way we work, live and play.