OpinionJan 9 2013

A whole new world

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Listening to Peter Andre and Katie Price’s duet ‘A Whole New World’ is a painful experience but somewhat compelling.

In fact, I am going to listen to it again after I’ve done this blog, and I will claim that any workplace YouTube viewing was merely contextual research.

The truth is, I can’t not hear that awful cacophony every time I read an article on the new RDR world, or see a headline that offers some variation on ‘Brave New World’ ‘A Whole New World’ and, worryingly for those of us who know our history, ‘New World Order’.

And just as the Price-Andre duet was a hideous mash of terrible nasal tones and grotesquely loose grasp of pitch, so the RDR seems to be a hideous mash of terrible policies and loose grasp of what an adviser’s role actually is in society.

See? I actually did use YouTube to make a serious point.

We were warned in 2010 that up to 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the advisory industry could leave, as a result of the drive for higher qualifications, lack of grandfathering, a sea-change in the way advisers are remunerated and an austere economic environment as the background.

In truth, 1 January came around without a big fuss. Networks did not suddenly declare bankruptcy, press releases still came through and advisers answered their phones. Some even managed to laugh. Perhaps the build-up to RDR was more terrible than the actuality, just as the build-up to the various End Of The World dates in recent years.

But it didn’t take long to see trends emerging. Tenet declared that nearly 10 per cent of its members have been deauthorised.

Separately, the FSA has said it is still receiving last-minute applications from advisers who, having received results in December and realised they need to re-sit, have asked for a stay of leave.

Yes, there are arguments that we all knew this was coming and it was up to us to get ready. But not everyone has the same work or even home life. There’s no use being smug and telling the last-minute advisers that they should have done things sooner.

You just have no idea of what they deal with daily and perhaps it’s best not to judge without having all the facts to hand.

And if you do, don’t judge anyway. It’s just not fair - and if advisers can’t stand together to fight the noisesome calls from various regulators, then what hope is there for those who remain?

The regulator itself has said it will be hard to quantify the true number of leavers as a result of the RDR, while agencies such as Retiring IFA are seeing an increase in the numbers of advisers looking to value their business as a precursor to a sale.

Add to this the government’s continuing push for MAS, which is going to conduct a huge financial capability review of the entire nation this year, and it is clear which way various segments are going to have to go.

Mas - everyone who wants advice but can’t afford or don’t want to pay a fee for something they feel they can sort out themselves. Cue a lot of disappointed people in years to come.

Banks - for those who are rich or dense enough that they don’t care about getting charged fees for the privilege of having a bank account, and are happy to be pounced on by a shiny-suited child-man who flogs them a 7 per cent and completely inappropriate bond during their lunch hour.

Building societies - for those who do care about their money and want to grow it steadily without risk, but tend to sit in cash.

Advisers - for those who have money, but no time to manage it; for those who care about how their money will work for them; for those who have long-term goals and want advice on how to get there; for those who see that it will reap dividends in the future to pay an upfront fee or use adviser remuneration; for those who value a professional, personal service.

Looking at that list, the sort of clients advisers want are the sort of clients that will want advisers, surely? Instead of worrying about all the great unwashed who don’t have access to or won’t be able to afford advice, concentrate on the quality clients, the interested clients, the ones who will be loyal.

Don’t be afraid by the voices, even if they lack harmony and sound terrible. Don’t even be afraid about not being completely ready. If you are determined, you will get there.

It is a whole new world, and it is yours for the taking. Work with what you have and build on that. If you have failed one level, retake it and get back on your feet. Fight for what is rightfully yours, and win.

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And - which is more - you’ll be a Man, my son!

- Kipling’s ‘If’