Can you trust financial advice?

The financial conduct authority (FCA) undertook its largest ever survey to look into attitudes on financial services and financial advice.

Of the 12,000 people surveyed 39% said that they trust advisers to act in their best interest, 31% said they didn't trust advisers and the remaining 30% taking a neutral view.

It doesn't make for great reading when 31% of people don't trust advisers to act in their best interests. Is this an outdated view based on the commission practices of the past? The FCA certainly thought so pointing out that many non-advised people who did not trust advisers were unaware of regulatory changes, the main of which abolished commissions and raised the qualification levels for advisers. Both of these points have been viewed as key in increasing the professionalism of the industry.

Interestingly, of the people who did take advice 92% of them returned to the same adviser, indicating they felt they had a trusted relationship.

Whilst the FCA's survey brings to light some interesting stats we are only able to draw from our own experiences and some will have had bad experiences.

At White Oak Financial Planning, we aim to build long lasting positive relationships with clients. We want our clients to trust us with their pension advice, investment advice or whatever part of financial planning they need.

We believe that by being truly independent advisers we are able to put our clients needs at the centre of all of our advice. In doing so our clients trust the advice they receive. This is born out in the retention of clients, with 98% of clients staying with White Oak Financial Planning after joining.

We work by offering a free initial review. From our side, it enables us to look more closely at your circumstance and objectives, enabling us to provide a quote for work required. From your side, it lets you start to build that trust. To see if White Oak is a firm you want to work with.

For your free initial review get in touch and we can arrange a meeting at our Chester offices or somewhere more convenient. Whilst we cover all aspects of financial planning, we specialise in pension planning, investment planning and inheritance tax (IHT).

Tom Wilcox-Jones - Chartered Independent Financial Adviser