When sitting down to write this column, the subject I wanted to avoid writing about was anything to do with the most ghastly word ever created: Brexit. I don’t know about you, but I am quite bored of it all now.
However, there is another topic many might be sick of hearing about, but I definitely am not: the retirement freedoms. I still find it fascinating and love reading any new data and research. Maybe I need a new hobby.
Much to my delight, a few weeks ago the BBC aired its latest Panorama special looking into “rip off” pensions and scams facing investors around the country since the freedoms came into force in 2015.
At first, I thought it was going to be great – showing the public how to be more careful and think more about their pensions before transferring or emptying their pots in one hit. But the more the programme went on, the angrier I got.
Now, I will be the first to admit that I am not exactly the most patient or tolerant person in the world (and I’m sure my husband will have no trouble agreeing with that), but something about this investigation really got my back up.
It started within the first five minutes of the programme, when the presenter had already misused the word “advice” when she should have said “guidance”. Am I being picky, or shouldn’t we be more careful when talking to the general public about this?
It is little wonder that people don’t know how they differ – so they get scammed by awful companies, and Panorama has to make this type of programme.
If you didn’t get round to seeing the programme, it essentially followed a company trying to get people to transfer out of defined benefit pensions and invest in its parent company’s properties in Cape Verde.
Apparently you can get a 10 per cent guaranteed return a year – who knew! The programme then set up a meeting with one of its “advisers” (and I use that term very loosely – he was not a qualified adviser, but a glorified salesman who receives 7 per cent commission for every transfer he signs off) to see what he would say to their fake client.
I think what got me was when quite early on the bloke used the phrase: “Officially, I can’t give advice, but…”. This is reminiscent of those people who say “I’m not racist, but…” and then continue to go off on a racist rant.
To add to the mix, they then visited a bowls club to let the more “mature” people explain things including self-invested personal pensions (Sipps) or defined benefit schemes to the viewer at home.
I must add here that I don’t have anything against old people, I knew a fair few (and even some who play bowls) and they’re not bad at all. My issue was that as an industry, we are trying so hard to get younger people to invest in a pension and get involved with preparing for retirement (even though it is still a good 40 years away for me).
So why do we have a stereotypical older person telling viewers what a Sipp is? It might have been slightly more useful for them to say more than “It is a self-invested personal pension”. I digress.
While, sadly, this programme would not exactly be ground-breaking to many of us in the industry – we are all aware this happens – there was one stand out issue that troubled me.
At the end of the programme, it was announced that neither the Department for Work & Pensions, the Pensions Regulator, the Treasury or the FCA were available for comment.
Surely something that is so blatantly a scam should be addressed as soon as possible in an attempt to stop this from happening again in the future? Fair enough if they are not allowed to comment on individual cases, but they should be at least reassuring people that they are taking action.
We need the regulators and lawmakers for reassurance, but when they will not comment on something like this, it is cause for concern. Advisers rely on the regulator to keep on top of the industry and help with their image, so the least that can be done is a short sentence to reassure the 3m or so viewers that qualified financial advisers are not the bad guys.
For those of you who didn’t get round to watching the programme, despite my personal views, I would still recommend trying to find it on whichever form of catch-up TV channel you use. It’s worth it just to see what your clients are being told by our apparently trustworthy BBC.
I should also shamelessly add that a great way to help prove to your clients what a brilliant adviser you are is to enter the Money Management Financial Planner Awards. Everything is now live and ready for you to enter online at mmawards.co.uk. As well as impressing your clients, you are also eligible to bag £5,000.
