A lot of the platforms and a few other areas were working in a transparent way already, and for them it is business as usual. For some other guys it was a massive change.
I don’t know the switch to clean share classes could have been done at one point. But I think advisers are finding it brutal. It is brutal; it’s horrible.
The more platforms try to throw their weight around with super clean share classes and special deals and clever things round the back door, the worse it gets. Given that often we’re only talking about a few basis points difference, it would be much better if we could all get on the same page, take a breath, and then let market forces do their thing.
I don’t know how an adviser would pick at the moment. It’s very difficult and we are counselling anybody we work with that’s thinking about making a strategic decision.
Don’t make any decisions at the moment because you don’t have the information you need. Nobody should be making strategic decisions on the basis of share class availability I would say for another six to eight months.
I don’t think any platform is being bad about this stuff particularly. A few are muddying the waters – the three classics are Standard Life, Skandia and Hargreaves because they’re all pushing so hard for different treatment. It’s not making it easy.
It’s fun to watch them all try and rip each other apart – it’s good sport. But I’m just not sure it’s terribly helpful at this moment in time.
I wish 2016 wasn’t so far out because typically with advisers, there is no real sense of urgency yet on the legacy book. Some say “I’ve got two years, it’s loads of time” – no it’s not, it’s just not. I do think we’re lacking the sense of urgency around trail.
I think the platform market overpromised in its early days on what it could do. The truth is it wasn’t ready.
If I was setting up an advice business now, it would be a restricted one. To make advice economic for all but the wealthiest, it needs to have a lot of process around it.
Financial advice has become much more of a profession. There were always those that worked that way, but it is much less about product sales now.
The product has become advice. Advice at its best has moved to the centre of the value chain, everything else has been relegated.
Everyone hates to talk about them but St James’ Place and Towry are just outstanding marketing machines. There is lots to admire, whatever you feel about their propositions.
If I could, I would allow child trust funds to be moved into Junior Isas. I know there are reasons why it hasn’t happened but it’s something to overcome.
I used to want to work in theatre and be a director or producer. I had a left over CV and sent it to the Scottish Widows graduate scheme and didn’t take it seriously. On consecutive days, I got an offer from the Traverse theatre in Edinburgh and Scottish Widows for almost exactly double the money.
At the time I lived in a damp basement and I liked the idea of being able to afford to eat and go to the theatre once in a while. I’m afraid to say I took the money.
The name the lang cat comes from a song by James Yorkston from Fife. It’s instrumental so you will never know why it is called that.
There’s an awful habit of people trying to call their companies something terribly impressive and you end up sounding like a reject from The Apprentice. Something like ‘Team Thrust’.
There’s also a place in Vietnam called Lang Cat. A little lesson I learned is make sure you give your proposed name a good googling. Getting my search engine results above that tourist resort was quite difficult.
