I have to confess that I scratched my head this week when I heard the news that JP Morgan Chase was buying the loss-making robo-adviser Nutmeg.

The Personal Finance Society has always been something of a problem child for its parent the Chartered Insurance Institute.

As we reported last week, the CII’s recent crunch AGM saw a setback for rebels fighting against the deregistration of the Personal Finance Society.

What quality matters most to our clients? Whatever else comes along, no machine or tool will ever replace empathy and that's the quality that all of our clients seek.  

I seem to spend a lot of my time discussing the lifetime allowance, so when it was announced in Budget 2021 that it would be frozen with immediate effect for the next five tax years I knew this would only increase these conversations.

Our usual way of life has been turned upside down by the global pandemic. Thankfully, due to the exceptional role out of the UK Covid-19 vaccination programme, the hope that life will return to some semblance of normality is a realistic prospect.

This week I did something rather different. I put on a pair of black work shoes, a decent work shirt and a pair of trousers. I then went to my annual business meeting at our accountants.

The rules of financial regulation were effectively torn up and rewritten this week after the Government stepped in and launched a £120m compensation fund for victims of the London Capital & Finance collapse.

If there is one positive from the London Capital & Finance fiasco it is that the whole sorry business has prompted government and regulatory action to stop a repeat of LCF.

The pandemic has forced many of us to turn to online platforms for hosting client engagements. Meetings that may have begun with the adviser greeting their client with a handshake or perhaps a hug, offering them a cup of tea, and leading them into a welcoming setting with comfortable seating and good lighting are no longer possible.