Some 4.4mn adults received regulated financial advice in 2022, up from 3.8mn two years prior, the Financial Conduct Authority has revealed.
In its latest Financial Lives report, published yesterday (July 25), the FCA said in 2022, 8.3 per cent of people received regulated advice, up 2 percentage points from 2017.
Unsurprisingly, it reported that the use of regulated financial advice increases with wealth.
For example, almost one in three (31 per cent) adults with investable assets of £100,000 or more took regulated financial advice in the past 12 months, compared with just 2 per cent of adults with less than £10,000.
Looking at the type of advisers used, three‐quarters (74 per cent) of adults used an adviser from a financial advice firm, such as an IFA.
Overall, this meant that 6 per cent (3.2mn) of adults overall received advice from an adviser at a financial advice firm in the last 12 months.
The FCA said this number is unchanged since 2020, but is up from 2.6mn in 2017.
The number of adults who had received automated advice online increased eight‐fold from 0.1mn in 2017 to 0.8mn in 2022.
Trust in advisers
The report found that trust may be a barrier for financial advice.
Only one in five (21 per cvent) who had not had financial advice but might have a need for it agreed that financial advisers are unbiased.
While less than half trusted financial advisers to act in the best interest of their clients.
But this level of trust changed among those who had actually taken advice.
For advised adults, 53 per cent were highly confident in the advice they were given, 58 per cent had high levels of trust in
their adviser, and 51 per cent were highly satisfied with their adviser.
The survey also revealed that three in 10 adults (29 per cent or 15.2mn) received support about investments, saving into a pension or retirement planning in the 12 months to May 2022 – down two percentage points on results for the year to February 2020.
This support could be regulated financial advice, for example, from a financial adviser or an automated advice service, or information or guidance to help them to identify their options and narrow down their choices.
The survey found that more men than women received support in the 12 months to May 2022: 32 per cent (8.3mn) compared with 26 per cent (6.8mn), respectively.
Getting support also varied considerably by age, with adults aged 55‐64 being the most likely to get help (39 per cent) and adults aged 18‐24 the least likely (15 per cent).
Other advice
Elsewhere, half of residential mortgage holders who had taken out a mortgage in the past three years or made a change to it in this period - such as switching to a new rate - sought advice from a broker.
Some 11 per cent sought advice from an adviser at a mortgage lender, 38 per cent sought no advice, and 3 per cent could not recall. These results are unchanged from 2020.
sonia.rach@ft.com
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