Financial Planners are concerned about their aging client base, marketing costs, and how they will attract new clients, according to new research.

Nearly one in five (19%) of financial advisers surveyed for the new paper from analysts AKG and wealth manager Charles Stanley were concerned about the age profile of their clients. One in eight (12%) were worried about marketing costs and how they will attract new clients.

According to the new paper, more creative new business generation strategies need to be developed in the longer-term and over the short to mid-term advisers need to work harder at tapping into intergenerational and multi-generational advice opportunities by further extending existing client relationships.  

The research also noted that the Coronavirus pandemic has created a window of opportunity for Financial Planners. Four in ten (40%) of the UK adults surveyed had discussed their financial planning with their partner/spouse/friends within the past year and 29% have done so within the past month because of the coronavirus crisis.  Just under one-fifth (17%) said they will have a need for advice due to the pandemic.

The Financial Planners surveyed for the report were optimistic about opportunities from the pandemic. Over half (52%) said the pandemic will increase demand for financial advice from existing customers, and 48% said it will increase demand from new customers.

Major life events such as buying property or retirement were the trigger that would make over a third (35%) of those surveyed more likely to seek financial advice. One in eight said they always consult a financial adviser when making major financial decisions and nearly one in ten (9%) said they had regretted not seeking financial advice.

However, only 24% of adults surveyed had seen a Financial Planner in the past five years, and only 17% had done so in conjunction with their spouse.

John Porteous, group head of distribution at Charles Stanley, said: “Given the degree of uncertainty and disruption that society has faced so far in 2020, the value of structured and professionally thought through financial planning is significant. Equally, against a backdrop of market volatility and economic disruption, the value offered must be explicit and communicated in a fashion that resonates with clients (eye of the beholder). Increasingly, a positive value exchange cannot just be assumed – it should be agreed.

“The subject of intergenerational wealth transfer has historically been uncomfortable to broach – some even describing it as ‘taboo’. The lockdown of 2020 has made clients revisit what is really important to them (with the emphasis on health and happiness in a wider context of wealth) - in particular the importance of personal relationships and family. This has led barriers to be broken around emotive conversations. As we emerge into a ‘new normal’ it is highly likely that a redefined connection between multiple generations will be at the top of the planning agenda.”

Three separate market research exercises were carried out with adviser and consumer audiences for the research paper: 100 advisers were surveyed during March/April 2020, 1041 consumers on 15/16 April, and 20 qualitative interviews were carried out with intermediary firms.