Regarding the debate over the difficulty of recruiting new people to our profession, most young graduates may well enter employment but many have hopes it will ultimately lead to their own business – a long and successful one.
The environment they enter at an early stage is very important to most of them and, being the brightest, they are well-equipped to weigh this up.
Now let us look at what the job may offer:
1) Ever-increasing hours spent researching and recommending products, then completing an ever-increasing amount of documentation.
2) A vertical climb in professional indemnity insurance, FCA, financial ombudsman service and other fees eroding profitability.
3) A decreasing number of clients as the new retail distribution review deters anyone with a modest pot from taking any advice.
4) An ever-increasing workload (no matter how thorough you are), fire-fighting claims management companies that abuse suspicious activity reports and the Fos because, if they throw enough mud, some will produce cash.
5) Ever-changing regulation resulting in lifelong exams and literally years spent simply accommodating another whimsical change at the behest of whoever the regulator of the day is.
6) Time to retire? Decreased value on the sale of the hard-built business because of the lack of trail income and the potential for liabilities.
7) If you get out, are you off the hook? How about a personal liability in your 80s for something you advised upon 40 years earlier? Who else has that potential?
There is a lack of young, intelligent graduates wanting to join the financial services industry. Why do you think that is?
Ian Broadbent
Company director,
Holme Finance, Scunthorpe
