FTAdviser Podcast
380 episodes - English - Latest episode: 16 days ago -FTAdviser is the Financial Times’ specialist title dedicated to the UK financial advice profession. Each week one of our reporters will be joined by a panel of experts to discuss issues such how the latest regulatory developments will impact advice firms, how advised clients will be affected by the latest developments in pensions, investing, mortgages and tax, and how the financial advice profession will develop and grow. The FTAdviser Podcast is designed to inform regulated UK advisers on a range of topics, covering investments, pensions, regulation and other key issues.
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Episodes
Why do we need female financial advisers?
September 27, 2021 08:00 - 19 minutes - 18 MBWe've all heard the phrase 'people buy people'. But does this really apply to advising different genders? After all, a great financial adviser can deliver great financial advice to any client, regardless of their gender. But it is also true that there are additional benefits to an advice firm that can be gained by having a more diverse team. Moreover, there are sometimes particular sensitivities that women might face which would mean they are more comfortable with a female financial adviser....
Will CDC pension schemes take off?
September 24, 2021 10:00 - 17 minutes - 16.5 MBNext year will see the launch of collective defined contribution pensions - at least one will come into existence when Royal Mail 160,000 employees move into this new type of scheme, but will others follow? CDC pensions aim to bridge the gap between defined benefit and defined contribution by having all employees pay into one massive pot from which their benefits are drawn. This week reporter Amy Austin talks to Simon Eagle, chairman of Willis Towers Watson's CDC working party, and Tim Mid...
What do the govt's social care reform plans mean for the advice industry?
September 17, 2021 05:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBAfter plenty of waiting, the government has finally unveiled a plan which, it says, will solve the UK's social care crisis. On this week's podcast, senior reporter Amy Austin is joined by Steve Webb, former pensions minister and partner at LCP and Tony Mudd, divisional director for tax & technical support at St James’s Place. They discuss the government’s social care plans and how it is unlikely there will be any new products in the immediate future due to timing issues. The FTAdviser Podc...
How to approach later-life planning
September 13, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes - 24.8 MBWe know there is a gender pay gap - and therefore there is a gender pension gap that needs to be filled. But often we forget that this lack of funding for women in retirement can also lead to a poorer outcome for women needing care in later life. So how can advisers help women get on a better financial footing in retirement? And what is needed to help educate female clients about their financial needs later on in life? Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, to discuss these que...
Why Silicon Valley is the real threat, not ‘digital’ brokers
September 10, 2021 10:00 - 30 minutes - 41.4 MBConsolidation in the digital mortgage space has spiked in recent months as larger companies buy up the technology to service their own customer bases. Having attracted some hefty investments over the last year too - most notably the in August 2020, how much of a threat are these digital brokers? On this week's FTAdviser Podcast, reporter Ruby Hinchliffe is joined by Charlotte Nixon, mortgage adviser and protection proposition director at Quilter, and Billy Grimley, chief commercial officer ...
How central banks will dictate the UK's recovery
September 03, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 42.9 MBThe re-opening of pubs and shops, as well as the return of international travel, might make some think the Covid-19 pandemic is moving into history. But the economic impact of the pandemic, and its impact on markets, has not yet fully played out, with the Bank of England yet to raise interest rates from their rock bottom position at 0.1% and the future direction of inflation uncertain as the re-opening of the British economy distorts the picture. This week FTAdviser special projects editor...
What role do academies have in the future of advice?
August 27, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 50.6 MBThe gap between those who need advice and those who can access it - the so-called 'advice gap' - is one of the long-standing conundrums the financial advice profession has faced. For some advice firms, the solution is to encourage more people into the profession to level out the supply and demand imbalance which has led to a surge in the number of advice academies being launched. So what role do these academies - many of which are associated with large, vertically integrated advice firms -...
How protection fits into family wealth planning
August 24, 2021 08:00 - 29 minutes - 40.8 MBSpeaking on this latest FTAdviser In Focus podcast on the topic of how protection fits into family financial planning, panellists discuss why it is not just important to curate wealth, but also to protect the people bringing that wealth into the household. Tony Mudd, divisional director for tax and technical support at St James's Place; Kathryn Knowles, managing director at Cura Financial Services; and Alun Beynon, head of distribution for intermediary protection at Scottish Widows, tell Si...
The pros and cons of social media for advisers
August 20, 2021 10:00 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBLast month the Financial Conduct Authority warned that social media platforms were playing an increasing role in putting consumers at risk of harm through adverts for financial products and the rise of financial influencers - or "finfluencers". Advisers aren't immune either, with the regulator expressing concerns that the use of certain social media platforms by advisers wasn't always helping consumers. This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Hugh Johnson, head of pr...
Preparing portfolios for higher inflation
August 18, 2021 08:00 - 39 minutes - 36.3 MBAs the world tentatively emerges from the pandemic, the thoughts of many market participants are starting to turn to the next phase of the economic cycle, and the potential for higher inflation to take hold and disrupt markets. In this podcast, Remi Olu-Pitan, multi-asset investor at Schroders, Chris Darbyshire, chief investment officer at Walker Crips, and Charlie Parker, managing director at Albemarle Street Partners, discuss the options for investors seeking to prepare portfolios for hig...
Lifestrategy at 10: has it changed advice?
August 13, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBThis year marks a decade since Vanguard's Lifestrategy range launched in the UK and to say the passive funds had proven popular would be to downplay the situation. The five multi-asset funds are now worth £29bn and earlier this year their monthly inflows hit £1bn. But Lifestrategy range, which costs just 22bps, isn't just popular with investors. Advisers have also flocked to the range over the course of the past decade, integrating it into their propositions. So, what effects has this had?...
How to talk pensions across the generations
August 10, 2021 08:00 - 35 minutes - 32.4 MBMuch has been made of the need to start saving as early as possible and to keep this habit going as long as possible. But when it comes to pension provision, are the current products available suitable for all generations? Is the current advice or perceived wisdom around pension planning as appropriate for someone aged 20 as it might be for someone in their 40s or 50s? And why should it matter how old someone is when it comes to having a proper conversation about long-term retirement provisi...
Will the FCA's proposals fix the Financial Services Compensation Scheme levy?
August 06, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBLast month the Financial Conduct Authority published its business plan for 2021-22, setting out how it plans to adapt itself to the "profound forces transforming the entire landscape of financial services". But what does this mean for financial advisers? The FCA has said it will be conducting a review into the scope and coverage of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Will this bring about the reform that advisers want? And what impact will the tougher approach on authorisations have...
Lenders stand firm despite govt's 'change of heart' on cladding
July 30, 2021 09:27 - 31 minutes - 29 MBLast week the government announced a U-turn in its cladding guidance. It said leaseholders living in buildings under 18 metres tall would no longer need external wall application (EWS1) forms. Many leaseholders have found themselves “stuck” in properties deemed undesirable by lenders due to the risk of huge cladding removal bills - some estimated at as much as £70,000 - hanging over them. Now, high street lenders HSBC, Barclays, and Lloyds Banking Group have committed to reviewing their pra...
How to use pensions for intergenerational planning
July 26, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes - 23.9 MBOver the next few decades it is estimated that trillions of pounds will pass from one generation to the next: primarily from baby-boomers, who have ridden the wave of rising asset prices to their millennial children, who haven't always been as lucky. But ever since the pension freedom reforms of 2015, the big worry many savers have had is how they can turn their pension savings into an income so they can enjoy themselves in retirement. So what role does the pension have in the intergenerat...
How M&G Wealth is using hybrid advice to grow
July 23, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 29 MBMany in the advice profession have debated the benefits of face-to-face versus digital advice for several years. But over the past 18 months, many advisers have been unable to offer face-to-face advice and many robo-advisers have retreated from the market after finding the market wasn't as big as they thought. So what does the future of advice look like? M&G Wealth, which is currently expanding into the advice market after launching last year, believes the answer is hybrid advice. But what ...
Why pension allowances put advisers on the backfoot
July 16, 2021 09:20 - 21 minutes - 19.3 MBAccording to data published by the government, in 2018-19 there were more than 34,000 taxpayers who reported their pension contributions exceeded their annual allowance - with excess payments amounting to £817m. Savers also struggle to stick within the lifetime allowance with more than 7,000 people exceeded the allowance, incurring a tax charge. This week reporter Amy Austin examines why so many savers struggle to stay within their allowances and why the number of people exceeding them has...
The silver bullets of intergenerational planning
July 12, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes - 38.1 MBThe Great Wealth Transfer is about to begin in earnest, where a predicted £5.5trn is set to pass from older to younger generations over the next couple of decades. While this may well bypass the so-called 'squeezed middle' - or Generation X - the financial services industry is well aware of the need to help all generations understand the value of money. But what we are also starting to see is the importance to advisory firms of getting more young people into good savings habits, and reachin...
Capital gains tax reform & tax year changes: FTAdviser talks to the Office of Tax Simplification
July 09, 2021 10:00 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MBOver the course of the past 18 months, the government has spent a lot of money to get the UK through the Covid-19 pandemic. But Rishi Sunak, the chancellor of the Exchequer, has made repeatedly clear that the bills we have racked up during this period will soon be coming due. This puts into sharper relief the debates around tax which have been rumbling on in the background for several years. Reforms to capital gains tax, inheritance tax and pensions tax relief are often discussed, but might...
Where next for ESG?
July 07, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 50.4 MBThe year 2020 was a landmark one in lots of ways, including for ESG investing - if for no other reason than it finally put to bed the idea that you need to choose between investing ethically and investing for performance. But where next for ESG? In this podcast, sponsored by BMO Global Asset Management, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato takes a look at what the future might hold for these mandates. He is joined by Keith Balmer and Simon Holmes, portfolio managers at BMO, and David Mac...
Will private equity change platforms?
July 02, 2021 09:49 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBPrivate equity interest in adviser platforms has continued to grow over the past year or so. Recently Novia, James Hay and Parmenion have all been bought by private equity firms and according to analysis by the Lang Cat, the proportion of platform assets owned by private equity has gone up from 2 per cent in 2016 to 15 per cent in 2021. Meanwhile life companies, which have traditionally owned platforms, have fallen from 55 per cent to 17 per cent over the same time period. So what does thi...
Talking Point: Finding value in sustainable portfolios
June 30, 2021 09:47 - 39 minutes - 54.9 MBThe steep rise in popularity of sustainable investment solutions has led to a similar rise in valuations in many of the qualifying asset classes. On top of this many of the companies which address environmental or social problems tend to be technology businesses - which are more attractive for their growth characteristics rather than for their value. In this special episode of the FTAdviser Podcast, sponsored by Schroders, special projects editor David Thorpe talks to a panel of experts ab...
Pensions: desperately seeking solutions
June 28, 2021 08:00 - 27 minutes - 37.7 MBThe self-employed - and particularly younger gig economy workers - desperately need some solid pension solutions to help them make long-term provision for their retirement. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdviser, are some of the pensions world’s great and good: Jamie Jenkins, director of policy and external affairs for Royal London; Jonathan Greer, head of retirement policy at Quilter; and Nigel Peaple, Director of Policy & Advocacy for the Pension and Lifetime Savings Assoc...
Joining the advice profession during a pandemic
June 25, 2021 10:00 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MBFinding new clients at any time in a financial adviser’s working life can be a challenge, but imagine having to do that at the beginning of your career, at the start of the lockdown last year. This week, deputy features editor Ima Jackson-Obot talks to Emma Prince, an adviser at Quilter Financial Advisers, who previously worked in banking, and James Wallace from David James Wealth, a former pensions lawyer, about their first year as financial advisers - which happened to coincide with a glo...
Keith Richards on his time at the PFS and what comes next
June 18, 2021 09:48 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBThis week the FTAdviser Podcast speaks to Keith Richards, the chief executive of the Personal Finance Society, who will be standing down at the end of this month after nearly nine years in the role. During this time he was involved in the Financial Advice Market Review process, he established the PFS's pro-bono advice schemes and helped set up the European Financial Planning Association. He joins FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato to discuss his time at the PFS and what comes next for...
Why advisers are looking to ITs for income
June 14, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.7 MBThis FTAdviser In Focus podcast aims to do two things: to look at the reason why investment trusts have proved to be good income plays for pension investors, and to understand why the investment trust universe can provide sustainable long-term returns. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, on this podcast is Annabel Brodie-Smith, communications director for the Association of Investment Companies; Tim Morris, financial adviser at Russell & Co; and Simon Clements, manager of...
Do pension reform proposals go far enough to help savers?
June 11, 2021 10:03 - 20 minutes - 18.5 MBThe government is looking to make it mandatory for providers to issue simpler statements for certain defined contribution pension schemes used as part of auto-enrolment. But as the proposals stop short of making providers include costs and charges, there still remains disparity across the industry. This week reporter Amy Austin is joined by Claire Trott, head of pensions strategy at St James’s Place, and Jessica List, pensions technical manager at Curtis Banks, to discuss the impact of th...
Your property is not your pension. Or is it?
June 07, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MBProperty investment - be it buy-to-let or commercial property funds - has had a rough time over the past few years. Questions over the liquidity not just of pure bricks and mortar but also issues with daily dealing property unit trusts have caused a lot of concern to investors. There have been fund suspensions following the Brexit vote in 2016 and then again in 2020 as Covid bit into market valuations. And there has been so much tax twiddling that buy-to-let as an investment has become unat...
How the FCA's new duty of care might affect advisers
June 04, 2021 10:00 - 19 minutes - 17.7 MBThe Financial Conduct Authority has published proposals for what it calls a "new consumer duty" which it says will set clearer and higher expectations for firms' standards of care towards consumers. The regulator has said it is concerned about firms providing information which is misleading or difficult to understand, and products or services which don't represent value. It says it wants firms to ask themselves 'would I be happy if I were treated like this?' or 'would I recommend this servi...
Rectifying Redress for Transfer Victims
June 01, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MBVictims of defined benefit transfer misadvice are facing a double whammy when it comes to compensation calculations. According to campaigners supporting those who have been found by the regulators and compensatory bodies to have been wrongly advised to transfer out, not only do they face wildly differing levels of compensation, depending on when the calculations are carried out, but they also have to bear all the investment risk themselves. This FTAdviser In Focus podcast looks at why the ...
Will the FCA's plans to fix open-ended property funds work?
May 28, 2021 10:00 - 27 minutes - 24.9 MBMark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, famously said open-ended funds which invest in illiquid assets are "built on a lie". This has been particularly evident with property funds, which have been forced to open and close themselves to redemptions repeatedly over the past few years, first in response to Brexit and then because of the coronavirus pandemic. To fix this this the Financial Conduct Authority has proposed a new type of fund: the long-term asset fund, which have "...
How Biden's presidency is affecting global markets
May 21, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes - 23.3 MBJoe Biden has now marked more than 100 days of his term as President of the United States. While he has been a lot quieter on Twitter than his predecessor, that is not for a lack of activity. President Biden has signed a $1.9tn stimulus package, put together a $2tn package of infrastructure spending and unveiled a $1.8tn package of reforms on issues such as healthcare and labour laws. By common consensus, Biden is governing more radically than he campaigned. So what does this mean for inve...
How advisers can make the most of data
May 14, 2021 10:00 - 24 minutes - 22.4 MBOne of the clichés of the 21st century is to say data is the new oil but, like a lot of clichés, there's a kernel of truth in there struggling to come out. Indeed companies like Facebook have turned data into an awful lot of money and an awful lot of controversy. But what does this mean for advisers? How can they put the data they hold to good use to improve the service they offer? And what are the pitfalls? This week FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Nick Eatock, chief ...
What's the future for income investing?
May 07, 2021 10:00 - 23 minutes - 21.1 MBExceptionally low interest rates, a high level of economic uncertainty and elevated valuations across multiple asset classes have combined with the Covid-19 pandemic to make this a tricky time for all investors, but particularly for those looking for an income. Many companies cut their dividends as they faced the uncertainty of the pandemic, with Shell cutting its dividend for the first time since the Second World War. Overall, UK dividends fell by 54 per cent between April and June. This ...
What next for the pension advice allowance?
April 30, 2021 10:00 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBThe government has said it will be reviewing the pension advice allowance - which was introduced following the Financial Advice Market Review to help close the advice gap - after most major providers said they either didn't offer it or saw little or no interest. Pensions minister Guy Opperman has admitted the allowance, currently set at £1,500 over three years, was "too low to get an efficacious outcome" and said he was now working with HM Treasury to see if it could be improved. This week...
Making sense of IR35
April 27, 2021 15:09 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBMillions of Britons are being affected by "ill-thought-out rules, which have come into force for the private sector. Whether these are freelancers, concerned about how the rule might be assessed, or businesses worried about how they assess the tax status of every freelance contractor they hire, IR35 has posed problems for both advisers and their clients. Joining Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, to talk about what the new rules mean for contractors, clients and for advice firm...
Should the FCA scrap the 10% drop rule?
April 23, 2021 09:36 - 21 minutes - 19.4 MBEarlier this year the Financial Conduct Authority announced plans to review the controversial 10 per cent drop rule, which was introduced by Mifid II in 2018 and means clients must be informed when their portfolios drop by 10 per cent or more. The rule has been suspended since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic due to increased market volatility, a suspension which the FCA has said will continue until the end of 2021. But now the UK has left the European Union, what should the FCA do a...
FAMR five years on - can the advice gap be closed?
April 16, 2021 10:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MBLast month marked five years since the final report of the Financial Advice Market Review was published. The review was commissioned by HM Treasury to find measures to close the advice gap and enable the development of affordable and accessible financial advice - but in the five years since not much has changed and by some measures the advice gap has actually grown. And earlier this year the government was forced to admit one of the measures introduced following the review - the pensions ad...
Why UK tax policy on pensions is not working
April 13, 2021 08:00 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBPensions taxation in the UK has been tinkered around with for years. Over the decades, different laws have shaped pensions legislation, making what should be a simple concept – helping people to save more for their retirement – extremely complicated. With this in mind, Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor of FTAdviser, spoke with three industry specialists to ask them to think the unthinkable about pensions. If they were chancellor, what changes would they make and why? Joining FTAdviser In Foc...
Can the protection gap for Generation Rent be closed?
April 09, 2021 10:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBSince 2007, the number of private-rented households has grown by 60% as house prices have soared but incomes stagnated following the financial crisis. This growing cohort of renters has become known as 'Generation Rent', but what does this mean for the protection market? Homeowners across the UK are already underprotected and renters even more so, but since protection is traditionally sold at the point of a house purchase, what does the decline of home-ownership mean for consumers, brokers...
Tax day: The difficult second album
April 01, 2021 10:00 - 26 minutes - 24.4 MBLast week HM Treasury published a raft of consultations into tax policy, in a follow-up to the Budget which was branded 'tax day'. But like many sequels, it didn't quite live up to the hype. While some were anticipating changes to inheritance tax and capital gains tax - and there were even rumours of significant reform to pensions tax relief - in reality most of the Treasury's proposals were administrative in nature. This week FTAdviser's digital editor Damian Fantato is joined by Claire T...
FTAdviser talks to the pensions minister
March 26, 2021 11:00 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBThe role of pensions minister tends to change hands regularly but since his appointment in 2017 Guy Opperman has become the second-longest serving person in that position - second to Sir Steve Webb. Earlier this year he guided the Pensions Act into law, which included long-awaited rules around pension dashboards, collective defined contribution schemes, and new powers for The Pensions Regulator. This week FTAdviser's pensions reporter Amy Austin has a chat with Opperman about the plans to ...
Talking Point: The outlook for UK companies
March 24, 2021 09:14 - 28 minutes - 25.8 MBThe past few years have been a turbulent one for British companies, with the Brexit negotiations followed by coronavirus lockdowns. And the UK is often caricatured as home to big financial services or commodities companies - many of which face structural challenges - but not to tech start-ups. But what opportunities are there in the UK? In this special edition of the FTAdviser Podcast, sponsored by Schroders, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato examines what the outlook is for UK listed...
In Focus: Is inheritance tax 'outdated'?
March 22, 2021 11:00 - 30 minutes - 27.6 MBInheritance tax is being lined up for a long-overdue overhaul, following recommendations by the Office for Tax Simplification. Wryly described as a ‘voluntary tax’, the limits have barely been touched for over a decade, while only minor tinkering around residential nil rate bands has been part of Budget announcements in recent years. But all this is about to change - and advisers whose clients may get caught up in the increasingly complicated web of IHT planning will need to know various w...
A year of coronavirus: what have advisers learnt?
March 19, 2021 11:00 - 41 minutes - 38.5 MBExactly a year ago, prime minister Boris Johnson began placing the UK into lockdown, closing pubs, cafes and restaurants as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. A few days later he would tell the UK population to stay at home. A year on from these dramatic events, many advisers have changed the way they run their businesses and meet their clients. On this week's podcast, FTAdviser digital editor Damian Fantato talks to three firms of different sizes about how they have coped and what they ha...
Has Rishi Sunak done enough to help 'generation rent'?
March 12, 2021 13:28 - 23 minutes - 21.2 MBLast week chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak announced an extension to the stamp duty holiday and a government guarantee scheme to encourage lenders to start offering high loan-to-value mortgages again, after the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. This week Damian Fantato, digital editor of FTAdviser, is joined by Danny Belton, head of lender relationships at Legal & General Mortgage Club, and David Hollingworth, associate director at L&C Mortgages, to discuss whether this is enough ...
Next Act: The complexity of retirement
March 10, 2021 11:00 - 33 minutes - 30.3 MBThe events of the past 12 months have made many previously mundane things, such as going to the supermarket, more complicated. One thing that was already fairly complex but has been made more complicated is transitioning into retirement. From volatile investment markets to the changing employment opportunities for semi-retirees and the potential for having to support younger members of the family - many things have changed over the course of 2020. In this special edition of the FTAdviser ...
Budget 2021: The big freeze?
March 05, 2021 11:00 - 24 minutes - 22.2 MBThis week chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak his second Budget as the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine across the UK gives hope of a return to some degree of normality over the summer. Despite unveiling plenty of schemes to demonstrate how much he was investing in the UK economy, Sunak made clear that the bills racked up during the pandemic would soon be coming due. This meant several revenue-raising initiatives were announces, including an increase in corporation tax, frozen thresh...
Talking Tax
March 01, 2021 05:00 - 22 minutes - 21.1 MBAs we approach the end of the tax year, clients inevitably kick-start their tax planning. Perhaps we’d wish them to do this earlier, but let’s face it, tax isn’t the easiest thing for most people to grapple with as a concept. This FTAdviser in Focus podcast explores why tax can be so tricky to tackle. The panel talks to Simoney Kyriakou, senior editor for FTAdviser, about the language of tax reliefs, duties and allowances, and why education needs to start earlier. The panel also discusses ...
Has Covid-19 killed off property's role in portfolios?
February 26, 2021 11:15 - 31 minutes - 29 MBOver the past year working from home as gone from being a niche lifestyle, to something workers up and down the UK are doing every day. Offices across the UK are empty, along with bars, restaurants and other hospitality premises. And on top of this many are shopping from the comfort of their own sofas. But what does this mean for investors in commercial property and for those using it as a diversifier in a portfolio? This week FTAdviser special projects editor David Thorpe discusses this is...