Remain Diligent About Who Controls Retirement Guidance

I don’t profess to understand much of the political intricacies of the UK retail advisory market place but I do have a well developed sense of opportunity. And I can feel a cat fight developing over retirement guidance, and the influence and opportunity it creates.

In play short term is, I understand, is the re direction of something like £12 billion pa of moneys that were originally destined for the welcoming arms of life company statutory funds. In the longer term there is anything up to £4 trillion in legacy products that will leach out to the platform world, or new alternatives, over the next 20 years.

Stage one of the battle is gaining or retaining growth on Platform versus life office new ‘visible and transparent’ retirement solutions. Stage two is to survive to be a beneficiary of the £4 billion tsunami.

The UK advisory community is to my understanding quite unique. Compared to other countries it has a stranglehold on both distribution and advice. But that might just be temporary. Over the next few years there’s little doubt at the least that the banks and life companies will be back, the robo advisers will arrive and Amazon, of the social media monsters will join the fray.

As Daniel Kahneman told us in ‘Thinking: Fast and Slow’ the critical issue in determining an individual’s response is not the question itself but how the question is framed. So who controls retirement guidance is an important battle. Don’t give it up lightly.