Your LifeTalk Insider #38

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Welcome back…

From LifeTalk and LifeTalk Plus his week:

Gareth and 22 others: IHT planning for a client …

Couple (in mid 70s) are above £2m so have tapered RNRB. Majority of assets are cash / investments.

With annuity rates rising, the prospect of purchasing a PLA and using the premiums to fund WOL seem to make huge sense. Would seem to immediately get chunk of money outside the estate and a guaranteed- IHt free, and immediately available- capital payment for his daughters.

Assuming they are accepted for the WOL is there anything I’m missing? It seems to be too good to be true! Click…

Dan and 21 others: LTA Question.

Client has already taken full TFC allowance but has c.£800k. in uncrystallised funds. Struggling to see any reasons why not to crystallise this and put into FAD ahead of April.

I’m sure it’ll be futile as I can’t see labour reversing it, or not least without a transitionary period. Am I missing anything? Click…

Nick and 24 others: Looking to use CGT allowance on a GIA.

Can I do a fund switch (not a conversion of share class) from the acc version of the fund to the Inc version of the fund in order to realise a gain for CGT purposes?

Or would that get caught by the share matching/bed and breakfasting rules if the purchase of the Inc version is within 30 days? According to this article from Quilters technical team, I can. See number 5. Click…

Brad and 25 others: IHT / care home fees planning

I met with a long standing client last night who is worried about care home costs and IHT (aren't we all!). They asked about gifting their £700k house to their two children (other assets equate to a joint estate of c.£850k).

They are farmers and all live in the house together. I explained that they would have to gift the house to their sons and then pay the market rate rent for 7 years etc etc etc.

However, they asked if they could simply rent a bedroom from their sons as opposed to the full house - the boys live in the house, don't forget. I appreciate that we wouldn't get a definitive answer until probate on the 2nd death but has anyone had something similar before?

Does it fall foul of a rule I'm forgetting or would HMRC see right through it? Can you think of any other way of avoiding care home fee / IHT in this situation? Click…

Jonathon and 75 others: How many appointments would you expect advisers do do in a week?

I have a number of advisers in my team and looking at the activity levels being achieved, they have full admin and paraplanning support. Many years ago when I joined the industry it was 12 meetings a week, and we did all our own admin, report writing etc. I’ve never monitored my meeting numbers, just always been busy, fortunately, and on average do 5 meetings a week with more complex clients and 1 with a professional connection.

My advisers tend to give more basic advice and carry out reviews for existing clients. Just looking for an idea of activity levels. Click…

Back-Office Software…

I’m aware that this is an often discussed topic! But on this occasion, I’m not actually asking for recommendations for back-office systems…

That’s because, about 6.5 years ago, I was discussing software frustrations with a group of fellow IFA’s and one of them (who is a member of this group - you know who you are!) said, "Well why don’t you build a better one?"

"Sod It’, I thought – ‘I will!", thinking it would take about six months.

Anyway, nearly seven years later (yes, seven)…

It took a lot more than I thought and I have much more sympathy for software development companies now that I seem to have accidentally created one!

But I’d like to think that we’ve finally achieved our brief which was to create a full end-to-end software system, tailored specifically for Financial Planners, as well as including all the standard ‘financial advice’ functionality.

We ran a 2-year beta trial that ended last year with a group of Financial Planners (again, many of which are part of this group). We received some very useful, if not brutal at times, feedback (thank you Sasha Hunt, Jon Rose, Kevin Titmus, Michelle Boakes, Gary Capstick, Ricky & Alan Chan and too many others to mention - but you know who you are) which we spent a further 2 years implementing.

And having done that, we are today launching it to the market.

Anyway, the point of the post is that it would be great to get a little bit of feedback from my peers and to hear what you think.

So, if you have the time, I’d appreciate it if you could have a look at the demo walkthrough video which showcases all the functionality and let fire with any feedback (be honest, but kind!)

You can watch video here: See PlanHappy Software in Action For Financial Planners: https://planhappy.co.uk/walkthrough-video-and-demo-request

Anyway, I feel like a 5-year old showing off my model train at Monday morning ‘Show & Tell’ so I’ll leave it at that before I get accused of selling my wares in a discussion forum (although Admin have approved this post)

Neil Parker
Founding CEO, PlanHappy

PS: If you’d like a deeper dive, you can access a fully working free trial version of the system through the website www.planhappy.co.uk. And, if you like what you see, you can use CODE LIFETALK50 to get 50% off your first 3-months subscription as my way of saying ‘thank you’.

[Sponsored post by PlanHappy]

From LifeTalk Plus: League table of Financial Advisers' biggest challenges

Over the last three years I've been asking new joiners to our Facebook group what their biggest challenge is. I get almost a 100% response rate, so you might be interested in the current results.

Firstly all of the challenges listed were categorised, and here are the five main categories:

1. Client Acquisition and Relationship Management: This encompasses finding new clients, lead generation, client retention and developing effective communication strategies to maintain and grow client relationships.

2. Regulatory, Compliance, and Legal Challenges: Encompasses all challenges related to navigating the regulatory landscape, staying compliant with evolving rules and managing the administrative burden associated with these tasks.

3. Operational Efficiency and Business Growth: Includes challenges related to growing the business, managing time and administrative tasks efficiently, leveraging technology for business operations, and scaling up.

4. Professional Knowledge and Development: Focuses on the need for continuous learning, staying updated with industry changes, and the pursuit of professional qualifications and development.

5. Marketing and Reputation Management: Encompasses challenges related to effectively marketing financial advisory services, changing public perception of IFAs, and leveraging digital platforms for outreach and engagement.

Now, here are the top ten individual challenges expressed by advisers: Click to read on LifeTalk Plus…

A colourful new approach to financial advice

This fascinates me, because it seems to be an interesting and rapidly developing movement in the financial 'advice' world.

You may have seen the article in Professional Adviser about money and mindset coach Laura Ann Moore. What struck me was the comment they began with:

"People still call me a financial adviser when I am a coach". Click to continue…

How are you investing in yourself as a financial adviser?

A close business friend was saying yesterday how she is investing in herself this year - to be precise her personal development.

She wants to remain sharp, and with the right skills to meet the ever changing needs of her clients, her prospects and today's evolving marketplace. She is allocating £10,000 for her personal development this year, which may sound a lot to some, but not to others.

But the important thing is this: To what extent do you specifically allocate budget to investing in yourself? Click to comment…

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