I wrote early in 2017 about my hopes for the industry, and touched on unifying Financial Planning and Paraplanning communities, and how any future merger of the PFS and the CISI might give Paraplanners a voice.

In late 2015 we made the decision to rebrand our business Jane Smith Financial Planning.

There has been a lot of coverage in the financial media lately about the FCA’s plans for changes on Defined Benefit (DB) transfer advice.

Speaking with Financial Planning Today editor Kevin O’Donnell regarding the potential content for this column, things going on in my own business are always “hot topics” and fees and charges are one current issue.

Towards the end of last year I was invited to sit as part of a panel at a conference - a discussion on defined benefit pensions.

I read with interest the article online at Financial Planning Today which stated that the results of a recent Aegon study showed that 38% of respondents were not confident about their ability to retire comfortably and were unprepared in terms of pensions and saving to fund their retirement.

Once gain the question of whether there will be changes to pension tax relief raises its ugly head.

When I write a blog it can be a stream of words pouring out my head onto my laptop, but I do reread what I have written, and think about the impact of what I have said, I also spell check it and have others do the same for me.

As the owner of a small financial planning practice I have been asking myself how on earth is a small business going to cope with a looming bureaucratic red tape nightmare?

We need more Financial Planners. To be clear, this isn’t some shady attempt at recruitment for my own business. Goodness knows that four of us is enough for now.