About Adviser 2.0
This is a blog for financial advisers, about financial advice. So why, you may ask, is it written by a journalist and marketing consultant like me?
I have in fact worked more or less exclusively in the financial advice and wealth management sector for the past few years — producing multimedia content for end investors and helping advisers to attract, retain and educate clients. In that time I have come to realise what a hugely important profession this is.
Advisers aren’t just there to recommend specific investment products. Commissions and other financial inducements are now, thankfully, more or less consigned to history. Implementing an investing strategy is just a small part of what a modern adviser needs to do.
Real financial advice is all about the client. It’s about finding out what makes them tick and what they want to do with their lives. It’s about getting to know them in the minutest detail before you even suggest a course of action.
Financial advice means designing a plan that your client is completely comfortable with, and one that they can stick to through thick and thin.
Far from being a once-and-for all process, being an adviser to someone is a long-term commitment. It’s about being there for them whenever they need you, supporting and encouraging them. It’s also about telling them not what they want to hear but what they need to hear; sometimes it means being tough with them if you think they’re veering off course.
Real financial advice is about helping people to fulfil their dreams. It is, in short, about changing lives. This blog aims to help you do just that. And I don’t just mean your client’s lives, but your life too. With the help of specialist experts, I’m going to show you how to turn an advisory practice into a successful and sustainable business, with your interests and your clients’ interests in perfect alignment.
“Happiness,” said Mahatma Gandhi, “is when what you think, what you say and what what you do are in harmony.” Let’s make that our goal.
Robin Powell MA (Oxon) MCIJ
About Robin Powell
Robin Powell worked in television journalism for more than 20 years, as a reporter, producer and presenter.
He is the founder of Ember Television and its specialist division, Regis Media, which provides content and social media management for financial advice and wealth management firms around the world.
He also blogs as The Evidence-Based Investor and is an Ambassador for the Transparency Task Force, which is working with politicians, regulators and the asset management industry to make investment fees more transparent and easier to understand.
Robin is a member of the Chartered Institute of Journalists and was a Visiting Media Fellow at Duke University in North Carolina.
He is based in Birmingham UK and lives in rural Warwickshire with his wife.
