The Paraplanners' Assembly Podcast

A special tax year end Assembly combining expert insights and Chat-powered Q&A.

Coming just a week after the Budget statement on 6 March, a little over a fortnight before tax year end, and while the Finance Bill from last October’s statement is still making its way through Parliament, it was the ideal time to tune in to what you really need to know as the tax year hits its paraplanning peak.

To help, we gathered together a stellar panel of experts to share their knowledge and know-how: Les Cameron from M&G Wealth, James Jones-Tinsley of Barnett Waddingham and Transact’s Brian Radbone. (Scottish Widows’s Tom Coughlan, was due to join us but technical gremlins proved too much of an obstacle.)

It's an hour-long discussion laden with lashings of insights on allowances, reliefs and exemptions spanning pensions, ISAs, capital gains tax and inheritance tax (and everything in between).

Useful links

Watch the replay on Crowdcast: https://www.crowdcast.io/c/rcm49qyvcyz6

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How are other paraplanners feeling about the state of advice in the UK these days? What do they really think about working with advisers? The adoption of technology? How about regulation and The Consumer Duty?

The Lang Cat’s Steve Nelson joined us to reveal insights gathered from paraplanners who responded to the research and communications consultancy’s annual State of the Advice Nation survey of advice professionals.

Despite being in its sixth year, this is the first time that The Lang Cat has cut the survey’s data to reveal paraplanners’ perspectives.

And to explore what the study tells us, Steve and Assembly host, Richard Allum, was joined by two leading outsourced and in-house paraplanners – Alan Gow of Argonaut Paraplanning and Jackie Manning from Evelyn Partners. 

Together they asked what this year’s results reveal. The conversation:

• revealed a surprising finding (to The Lang Cat team, at least) about clarity of communication between advisers and paraplanners 
• reflected on how the attitudes and sentiment towards some of the biggest issues in the sector are more aligned with the rest of the profession than you might expect; and
• explored attitudes towards technology – and AI in particular.

In a confessional post at The Lang Cat’s site back in November, Steve admitted that he’d wished he’d explored paraplanners’ perspectives a while back. 

Well now he has.

Useful links

You can download Steve’s slides here 👉 https://bit.ly/3Td4dSU (opens a PDF)

To take part in The Lang Cat’s research panel visit 👉 https://bit.ly/4bVcodW, scroll down and add your details ✍ in the ‘Take part’ box that looms into view

Once you've listened to the podcast, if you'd like a record for your CPD, help yourself here 👉 https://bit.ly/49yqv7i

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Host Caroline Stuart from Sparrow Paraplanning is joined by Heather Hopkins of Next Wealth to explore how financial advice practices have addressed – and continue to address – the demands of The Consumer Duty.

What did we cover?

As well as recapping what firms are expected to do about the Duty, Caroline and Heather also considered what they could do thanks to the opportunities it presents. Over the course of the lunch-hour session two significant themes emerged:

how firms are demonstrating the value of their advice; and

how to prove that clients really understand what they can expect from their financial plan

To bring the topic to life, Heather shared insights from consumer research recently carried out by Next Wealth (see the downloads below) which reveals what clients value – essential intel for 

With its focus on practicalities of implementation illuminated by evidence from original research, it proved to be a really informative and engaging hour.

Useful links

Heather refers to a set of slides during the Assembly. Here they are:

NextWealth - The Consumer Duty (opens PDF)

Want to take part in future research by NextWealth? Join the panel here:

https://www.nextwealth.co.uk/research-panel/

Follow this link to receive a personalised certificate to add to your record of CPD:

https://bit.ly/47YwVLe

Heather mentioned the Financial Advice Business Benchmarks Report (FABB). Here's the latest edition:

https://www.nextwealth.co.uk/research/financial-advice-business-benchmarks-report-2023/

NextWealth's website

nextwealth.co.uk

Caroline’s site/s

sparrowparaplanning.co.uk and sparrowsols.co.uk

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For what seemed like AGES, low interest rates and low inflation rates gave the impression that the factors affecting a client’s future were pretty predictable.

But more recently, roller-coaster interest and inflation rates, combined with pandemics and wars, could leave you thinking that the future is altogether more unpredictable.

But is it?

During this online Assembly, Dan Atkinson and Richard Allum explore ways to think about planning assumptions in future.

They consider the kind of indicators that can form a set of assumptions with the durability to withstand those periodic headwinds sparked by social, economic and environmental events – the kind that have dominated our lives lately.

Of course investments are important but healthspans, death, inflation, spending, retirement, care and more have the potential to feature.

And then there are clients with specific outcomes in mind to add to the mix – for instance, meeting school fees, saving to offset childrens’ university tuition fees or deposits for their first homes.

Dan and Richard referred to loads of sources of information throughout this Assembly. We've posted them at the event page but thought we'd add them here too:

Links

ONS: mortality in England and Wales ➔ https://bit.ly/41tRNbE

ONS: life expectancies ➔ https://bit.ly/4aFEHwr

ONS: life expectancy calculator ➔ https://bit.ly/3tfKCYd

Inequalities in life expectancy ➔ https://bit.ly/48fzv06

🥕 Carrot price ➔ https://bit.ly/4avnDcn

🥬 Brussels sprouts price ➔ https://bit.ly/48fzGZk

Guaranteed income: a licence to spend ➔ https://bit.ly/48lX7A8

Downloads

IFP briefing paper on assumptions ➔ https://bit.ly/41r9R6l (opens PDF)

FCA product projections and transfer value analysis ➔ https://bit.ly/3GPs5oB (opens PDF)

Rates of return for FCA prescribed projections ➔ https://bit.ly/3v5T6BD (opens PDF)

Screengrabs

The wealth effect in later life ➔ https://bit.ly/3NyMNwL (opens PNG image)

UK inflation from 1210 to 2000 ➔ https://bit.ly/3tlD5qJ (opens PNG image)

UK inflation from 1950 to 2023 ➔ https://bit.ly/3GNkGpO (opens PNG image)

Private education fees ➔ https://bit.ly/3towJa1  (opens PNG image)

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Have you ever wondered how the transfer of pension or ISA or other investment actually gets transferred? Well now you will.

Because Transact’s Sian Ayling and Brian Radbone explain all in this bite-sized Assembly in conversation with host, Richard Allum.

In fewer than 15 minutes, they recap the reasons why transfers became a thing in the first place, why it can be hard to predict the time it takes to complete some in-specie transfers (it’s not just faxes that get a mention here but physical post), and why electronic transfer providers – like Origo – are making a difference to the ease of transfers.

Along the way, Sian and Brian talk about the effect of new UK pension transfer regulations, designed to fight scams, on the pace of transfers between providers.

Tune in and you’ll discover just how much choreography is required to make platform technology perform.

Useful links

Richard said we’d include a link to The Pension Regulator’s guidance on transfer requests. Here it is:

Dealing with transfer requests

Recorded on 22 September 2023

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Rebalancing portfolios is a familiar task for paraplanners. Periodically – often after a client’s annual review – we make sure that fund allocations are tweaked so they’re true to original investment goals.

But how does rebalancing work from a platform’s point of view?

In the second episode of a three-part series on life behind the scenes at platforms,  Transact’s national sales manager, Stuart Fleat, walks you through the rebalancing process.

In just four minutes, Stuart explains how a platform calculates and processes sells and buys, how long it takes and how to check tax impacts upfront.

Note

We’ve tested a snazzy bit of tech to do some rebalancing of our own – to the sound for this episode. We’d love to know what you think so, whether you liked it or not, email [email protected] and tell us what you think.

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In the last of his quartet of bite-sized Assemblies on investing, Timeline investment strategist, Laurentius van den Worm, tackles the topic of market forecasting.

Given our recent experience with high inflation, higher interest rates not to mention pandemics, wars and conflict, is there much point attempting to forecast the future?

Or put another way: what's the outlook for forecasting (geddit? 😉)

Tune in and you'll soon discover that Laurentius thinks three things are worth remembering:

1. active managers rarely outperform the market long-term. Investors should get low-cost market exposure rather than try to beat it;
2. missing just a few of the stock market's best days over decades can seriously affect overall returns. Timing the market is extremely difficult, so investors should stay invested; and
3. equities have created significant wealth over the past century and remain an essential feature of long-term financial plans.

What's more fixed income can help reduce volatility (and traditional asset allocation still makes sense despite recent volatility).

The takeaway? Long-term historic trends remain a pretty sound basis for forecasts despite recent volatility. And equities tend to reward patient investors with long time horizons.

Rather than market timing, appropriate asset allocation and risk management enable investors to endure short-term swings.

But don't take our word for it. Listen yourself now.

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In our latest episode, we’re exploring what clients need to know if they want to invest in property as part of their pension.

To help us, host Richard Allum was joined by experts Rachel Geary and Murray Smith from Barnett Waddingham for a lunch-hour Assembly.

Together, they covered the technical, regulatory and legal issues that influence pensions and property serving up practical and valuable insights and ideas along the way.

Among the topics covered were:

• Why buy a commercial property with a pension?
• SIPP vs SSAS. What, why and when?
• Rules about property in a pension
• Technical and legal things to know about investing in commercial property with a pension
• FAQs. Which things crop up time and again?
• What can go wrong – and how to avoid it happening

For more details, visit the event page:

Property, pensions and paraplanning

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The team from Transact recently joined us to record a series of fantastic 5-10 minute audio treats. We hope you enjoy them.

Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when you place a trade on a platform? In this bite-sized Assembly Transact's head of distribution, Glen Sweet, does just that.

In just FIVE minutes, Glen tells host, Richard Allum, all about trading points, settlement periods (including the difference between settlement of equities and funds), reconciliations, execution prices, trading windows...you get the idea. 

When you consider the intro takes about 60 seconds it's AMAZING how much insight and knowledge Glen packs in to his remaining 4 minutes and 23 seconds.  

So if you've ever wanted to lift the lid on the workings of a platform, tune in to this episode for insights galore!

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In the third episode of his series of bite-sized Assembly on investing, Timeline’s Laurentius van den Worm takes on the topic of sequencing risk.

In just 15 minutes he offers a working definition of sequencing risk he brings the topic to life with an example of two fictional sisters who – despite enjoying identical returns over their 30-year retirement journey – experience starkly different levels of income during…all because of the consequences of sequencing risk.

What’s more, Laurentius explores pound cost averaging and ravaging as well as the ‘4% rule’. 

For paraplanners keen to top up on your investment know-how, it’s the ideal lunchtime listen.

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