A new poll of Personal Finance Society members suggests nearly 90% of Financial Planners will never return to the way they worked before the pandemic.

Only 12% believe the ‘new normal’ will be like the ‘old normal’.

Some 17% said they would plan to work ’entirely remotely’ in future while 70% will use a mix of home and office working.

These are potentially seismic changes for the profession.

The new world involves video meetings with clients, more email usage, remote working and heavy reliance on cloud computing and online services. It does not involve face to face meetings, at least not yet, although one enterprising Financial Planner has started holding staff meetings in gardens, an idea I like.

My own take is that the ‘new normal’ will still be quite a bit like the ‘old normal’ but that the Covid-19 outbreak has accelerated a number of trends which we’ve seen in our annual Financial Planning Today Reader Survey over past few years, noticeably a shift towards video conferencing with clients.

Incidentally, our 2020 survey is under way and there is still time to share your views here https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/L2VJ2F3

What the PFS polls shows is that the Covid-19 outbreak has encouraged more planners to take the plunge with video calling and the like. Those who were a little reluctant in the past to embrace this technology have been nudged to join in the video revolution, albeit perhaps more through necessity than desire.

Early findings from our own survey suggest a strong preference for Zoom video calling, by the way, but many planners tell us they are still happily relying on the good old ‘dog and phone.’

My guess is that once the lockdown restrictions are relaxed further more planners, and certainly clients, will want to resume face to face meetings but they perhaps might not be as frequent in the past and will need to be carefully thought free. If lockdown restrictions are lifted entirely then face to face meetings will likely resume quite quickly.

One unexpected benefit of the Coronavirus pandemic, however, is that it has opened the eyes of planners to new ways of working.

Ultimately Financial Planning is about good communication and good listening skills and that can be done on the phone as well as video and in person. What is encouraging is that planners have shown themselves highly adaptable to rapid change - a surprise to some - and that will stand them in good stead whatever the future throws up.

• Our annual Financial Planning Today Reader Survey is a great way to share your views and tells us how your firm is coping with the pendmic. There are also five £40 M&S Vouchers up for grabs. You can take part clicking here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/L2VJ2F3

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Kevin O’Donnell is editor of Financial Planning Today and a financial journalist with 30 years experience.  This topical comment on the Financial Planning news appears most weeks.

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