Your LifeTalk Insider #49

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Welcome back…

From LifeTalk and Adviser Growth Community this week:

Thanks to everyone who has subscribed to LifeTalk Insider - Let’s get stuck in…

Poll: It's almost a year and a half since the launch of ChatGPT and we're interested to see its take up by IFAs/advisers and financial planners. Which of the following do you have/use? Click…

Luke and 60 others: Clients who smoke in meetings.

I’ve got the annual review with a very lovely client today. He’s a slightly odd chap in that he lives on his own, in his 50s, in a very VERY modest one bedroom flat… which he could afford to buy 10x over with his portfolio. Thing is, he sits there in this tiny living room chain smoking in my face throughout the whole meeting.

I used to smoke many years ago and took Champex to quit which has rewired my brain to find the smell of smoke absolutely disgusting. Not just unpleasant, but actually nauseating. Difficult to concentrate and I’m conscious that I might be talking like Daffy Duck as I try to not to breath through my nose. He lives in a pretty grim part of suburban London which doesn’t present any realistic ‘coffee shop’ venues. He doesn’t drive. He doesn’t leave his flat and he doesn’t like video meetings.

So… I’m out of touch with the world of smoking. If somebody came to your house for a meeting and asked if you’d mind not smoking for a couple of hours… in your own house… would you be offended? Click…

Graham and 13 others: I have been asking the question ‘what is included in ongoing advice charges’ for some time now and not really getting a clear answer. What do you all think? As an example it’s being mooted that we should charge a fee for crystallisation because even if they are just taking TFC we are (rightly IMO) producing cashflow modelling and testing the knock on effect on sustainability of the pension. So we can have a client paying £5k a year in OAC for a single pension policy (let’s say that’s 0.75%) then he wants to take out £50 tfc so crystallises £200k and we want to charge him 1% - £2k - just doesn’t seem right to me - what are others doing? Click…

LifeTalk member and 13 others: A friend was telling me that he was being charged 1% by his financial advisers that he was unaware of it. After a quick flick through his statement it was clear a 1% OAC was being charged. My friend isn’t the most financially astute person in the world but he has no recollection of agreeing to this. Has anyone come across the company involved Pension Access and if so what are your thoughts? Click…

Robert and 10 others: My client has two school age children. Her ex-partner (they were never married but did live together until they split last year) was the father of the two children, has died unexpectedly.

They had an amicable relationship, and would share the childcare responsibilities equally. This now leaves my client with all of the childcare responsibilities, cannot now work, and is effectively a widow. Is there any financial support available / benefit entitlement to help her out? Click…

John and 41 others: Does anyone have any ideas or options for my client?

My client is a UK tax resident and a high earner - Basic more than £175,000 - then more than £350,000 in shares, bonuses etc. His total taxable last year was c£625,000.

What options are available to him for tax reduction, avoidance, and efficient ways for him to save and invest? He’s employed only, married with a stay at home, family supporting wife.

His earnings make pension contributions a limiting benefit. He’s newish to me and after our planning work discovered he’s been contributing way above his tax efficient limits into pensions. What product options are there? Are there offshore options? Are there professional advisers who specialise in this area I can tap into or refer my client to? Click…

Nick and 30 others: Just seen a client today, recently widowed. Her dad used to be an IFA but left in 2012. He has 'advised' her to do a deed of variation on her husbands Will to leave his NRB to her son (who is 2.5 years old) and this has been done in the form of a share of the main residence.

When I asked why, he said because it would remove 325k from her estate. Am I right to be confused or is this standard practice? What's the benefit? I would've thought claiming his nrb would be the standard. Click…

LifeTalk member and 6 others: Does anyone know of a system we can use to generate knowledge / AML type tests for advisers and staff? Our compliance company are now charging for this, per staff member, and it is proving to be quite costly. Thanks. Click…

Robert and 9 others: AI Tools for Meetings

Does anyone have any views or experience using PlannerPal and whether it's worth looking at to improve efficiency for annual review meetings?

We've been looking at the likes of Otter AI and Firelies in the last few days with a view to possibly using these to simplify meeting note taking and post-meeting report generation, but haven't started properly trialling these just yet. We've just come across PlannerPal after it integrated with XPlan last week, and seems on paper to be quite appealing and appears to address pretty much all of the concerns that we had with the others.

Does anyone use it, has anyone tried it and decided against it, or does anyone have any other suggestions for things to look at? Click…

Posts from Adviser Growth Community this week:

This is personal to me

My father was one of two partners in a private dental practice, and when he died (almost twelve years ago to the day), the surviving partner purchased his share, with my mother receiving the proceeds.

Five days before she was due to meet up with an IFA, the money was sitting in her bank account. The amount represented my dad's life's work.

Three days later every penny was gone. Click…

Essential reading for any financial planner, I'm told

In the last week I've seen two people I like and trust mention this book.

"Quite simply this book is a must read. It may well entirely change the way you think about your future.100 years is a scary prospect, raising important questions about how much money, education and flexibility you'll need to get by. Lynda and Andrew's book provides an excellent first step in addressing these questions. The narrative looks at how to build both the tangible and intangible assets which are now essential part of life and career planning. It covers everything from savings to relationships with helpful case studies of how a 100 year life may play out." Click…

Anyone surprised at this?

Half of IFA Firms Looking to Sell in Next Two Years - According to Gunner & Co., 50% of IFA firm owners plan to sell or arrange succession within the next two years, up from 42% last year. Retirement is the main reason (56%), but regulatory changes are also driving sales (8%).

Louise Jeffreys, Managing Director of Gunner & Co., noted increased regulatory scrutiny, like the Consumer Duty, affecting the market. Despite this, sector consolidation continues. Click…

Interview with Michael Kitces

I stumbled across this interview I did with Michael Kitces before Covid - he always has a huge amount of value to share. Worth a watch. Click…

Why IFAs are joining Adviser Growth Community

Adviser Growth is a positive, supportive and vibrant community for forward-thinking IFAs, Financial Planners, Lifestyle Planners, Later Life specialists and other financial advice professionals.

It's a dynamic space where financial advisers and industry professionals network, share best practice, enhance their learning, ask questions and exchange ideas.

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