My inbox has experienced a deluge of surveys, press releases and calls to action this week. The consumer knows nothing about the RDR. But do they really need to?

Another week, another countdown - there are just seven months to go, or less than eight, or just over six, depending on how creative and how much like scaremongering the press release author is feeling that day.

Yet, still the consumer (70%, 80%, 100%! - again, depending on research) knows nothing about it.

I’m not saying that advisers should be concealing the forthcoming changes from their clients or that any consumer in the know is wasting their time.

But what I am saying is that, as long as a person is told by their adviser the relevant points that will affect them and the advice they are receiving, then the fact that they don’t know what RDR stands for, how long its been in the making and how many FSA consultation papers have been written to get here is not really an issue.

As an example, I know that I can’t take liquids of more than 100ml onto a plane when I travel. I know I have to put them in those annoying clear bags when I go through security. And I know that this has something to do with terrorism, although I remain bamboozled as to how it helps.

No doubt, in official airport security land there is a name for this process, several acts and laws and consultation papers and fancy names and acronyms that led to me having to pay a quid to get a plastic ball out of a machine containing 10 sandwich bags, nine of which would never be used. But I don’t need to know all of that; I just need my sandwich bag.

The average person doesn’t need to know the ins and outs of RDR either, just how it will affect them and what choices they have. And I’m presuming that an adviser who has spent many years cultivating a relationship with someone will be happy to take far more time explaining these points to a client than any airport staff took with me that time I left my mascara out of the bag.