Advisers need to start talking about happiness and wellbeing with their clients rather than focusing solely on money, according to Chris Budd.
Speaking on the FTAdviser podcast, Mr Budd, ex-adviser and founder of the Initiative for Financial Wellbeing, said advisers needed to focus more on a client’s happiness — and how money could make them happy — rather than the assets themselves.
He said: “If you talk to clients about their wellbeing and happiness, and how money makes them happier, it’s a much more fun way to do the job.
“It’s much more fun than investments and tax, which are so boring.”
Mr Budd said he would not discuss an investment portfolio with a client unless they were very keen to do so, claiming this was like “going to a garage and the mechanic explaining the engine”.
He was discussing financial wellbeing and the topic's growing popularity among advisers with Tracy Crookes, an adviser at Quilter Private Client Advisers.
Ms Crookes agreed the concept of financial wellbeing was becoming more common in the advice industry, adding that more women coming into the industry had helped this.
She said: “Traditionally, it's always been about the products. It was about ‘I can make you money and yes I can make this amount for you’.
“Now, we’re aware of the need to plan for the future and ensure our clients are on that journey with us.”
Mr Budd and Ms Crookes also discussed how financial wellbeing linked up with regulatory requirements, such as suitability reports, and how the industry could work to improve the overall financial wellbeing of both clients and the population as a whole.
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imogen.tew@ft.com
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