Financial Planners, Paraplanners, IFAs, wealth managers and other professionals at these firms surveyed for our annual State of the Financial Planning Profession Survey were overwhelmingly positive about current and future prospects.

More than 77% were upbeat about the future of Financial Planning, despite economic and political challenges and the Brexit impasse, according to the results of Financial Planning today's latest poll which can be read in full in the latest issue.

However the rosy results could not hide the fact that confidence has dropped since last year, with around 9% of respondents less confident this year than last year when nearly 86% were either very positive or slightly positive about the future of Financial Planning over the next 12 months (down to 76% this year).

Despite this planners believe growth in the profession offers many reasons to be cheerful.

Chris Budd, chairman of Financial Planning firm Ovation Finance, highlighted that more than two thirds of our respondents
were confident about the next 12 months.

He said: “I’m not surprised, especially if you focus on the difference between advice and planning.

Providing meaningful Financial Planning, especially with a financial wellbeing overlay, is a rewarding and purposeful profession.”

Asked why he thought planners were so positive, he said: “Because people are moving away from transactional advice to Financial Planning, which is much more enjoyable and rewarding.”

Those feelings were shared by Chartered Financial Planner, author and Chartered Wealth Manager, Warren Shute, founder
of Lexington Wealth Management.

Mr Shute told Financial Planning Today: “I’m surprised [the percentage of those who are confident] is
not higher.

“The development of the profession is exciting.

“Clients are more understanding and engaging with the planning we do.

“In the main, we are building businesses with job roles, so we spend our time doing the things we enjoy and are good at.

He added: “There are more role models sharing ideas promoting learning, we all love to learn and grow.”

Our survey also revealed the numbers of those who had negative feelings for the year ahead.

Just 7.2% expressed ‘slightly negative’ as their choice, with none saying they were ‘very negative’.

Neutral – neither positive nor negative – accounted for 15.66% of those who answered the question.

The survey represents a barometer for how senior members of the Financial Planning profession are feeling and acting in the current climate with 51.9% listing their primary role as Financial Planner/ Financial Planning firm owner or director.

More than a quarter (26.6%) said their main role was ‘Paraplanner’, with the rest split between wealth managers, IFAs and other financial advisers.

Respondents were from a wide variety of differently-sized Financial Planning firms with most (25.7%) representing companies with £11m to £50m funds under advice.

Some 21.6% had £51m to £200m and 12.2% had £5bn+ in funds under advice.

In fact close to a third (31%) had funds under advice of at least half a billion pounds, with more than a fifth looking after more than £1bn for clients, showing steady growth for firms in FUA or FUM.

• You can read the full survey results for free here.