It takes two to tango

I enjoy their company, primarily because most are self-motivated, confident, fun to be with, have great people skills and understand the value of building long term relationships. If they enjoy a bottle of chilled Viognier, preferably with me, even better.

I value these business relationships because they provide me with a window on the sometimes misunderstood world of independent financial planning. As a result, long gone are the days when I would automatically describe financial advisers as mere glorified selling machines. This may surprise you, but I am now more caring, more understanding and more sympathetic towards you independent advisers. Long may it stay this way.

Unfortunately though, in recent times, the mood music emanating from these trusty professional financial advisers has been downbeat – not a hint of an upbeat. More Blues than Reggae.

It is due to unhappiness over the value of – or need for – the retail distribution review, misery over the ever increasing fees demanded by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and frustration over the greater demands put upon them by a probing FCA that wants to know advisers are adhering religiously to the post-RDR world.

Certainly, from what I hear, life for financial planners post-RDR is as challenging now as it is for us journalists, post the launch of the new Independent Press Standards Organisation (sneeze and you and I are both in trouble).

It seems my adviser friends cannot wait for the new rules to come in to existence

Against this downbeat backdrop, however, I have been heartened in recent weeks by the lovely smiles returning slowly but surely to the faces of those advisers whose relationships I cherish so dearly. At last, life is looking up, business is taking off. A recovering UK economy is helping but a lot of this new found cheer must surely be to do with the new and incredibly exciting liberal pensions regime that is coming our way next April.

It seems my adviser friends cannot wait for the new rules to come in to existence. Not because it will give them the opportunity to sell more – repeat after me Jeffrey Prestridge, advisers do not sell any more, clients buy – but because it will allow them to use their financial skills to maximum effect. It has given them a renewed purpose in life – a perfect opportunity to demonstrate their true value.

Clients will need them even more as they flounder through the maze of new pension rules. It will be an ill informed and vulnerable client who does not seek advice on how best to use their pension fund as they move from work into semi-retirement and ultimately into full retirement. And how to do this while ensuring key inheritance tax and possible long-term care issues are addressed.

When George Osborne announced his intention to free up pensions in March this year, I was thrilled. At long last, after putting in place a series of measures designed to punish pension savers (restrictions in lifetime allowances for example) we finally had a government acting in their best interests. Hallelujah. Pension freedom good. Annuity domination bad.

Five months on and I have not changed my mind. It is quite right that in a civilised, progressive society people should be allowed to determine how best to use their pension funds - with of course expert financial advice. They should not be bludgeoned into buying a poor value, inappropriate annuity.

It is quite right that in a civilised, progressive society people should be allowed to determine how best to use their pension funds

Most of the research done, so far, on how our pensions world will evolve, post April 2015, is positive. The mighty Fidelity published findings indicating that in fact few people will take all their pension funds in cash – only six of a sample of 500 of those preparing to retire between April 2015 and March 2016. Few will be splurging it all on a Lamborghini.

Yet it seems there are some that do not want the new brave pensions world to come so quickly – if at all.

Only last week, Toby Strauss, the chief executive of Scottish Widows pleaded, in the pages of the Daily Telegraph, for a moratorium on the introduction of the new pension rules. He wrote: “With a general election on the horizon, we’re saying that to ensure the success of this new retirement landscape the industry needs breathing space. Providing that will release the potential of all the changes to ensure that far more people get the advice and support they need to enjoy fully the benefits of their long-term saving.”

Interestingly though, Scottish Widows, he admitted, was struggling to cope with the number of phone calls it was getting from customers keen to know more about the effects on their pensions post April 2015.

Of course, the new pensions regime will mean huge changes to the status quo – and will inevitably necessitate insurance companies spending money, they probably do not want to, on new administration systems. But that is not reason enough to seek a delay.

If nearly all quality financial advisers have adapted to an RDR world, then I am sure most progressive, consumer orientated insurance companies can survive the oncoming pensions revolution.

As my most intimate financial adviser friends keep telling me: “New pensions regime. Bring it on.”

Jeff Prestridge is personal finance editor of the Mail on Sunday