Futureproof your financial planning business

I remember every Friday after primary school I would be taken shopping with my mom for our weekly food shop to Tesco, I didn’t particularly enjoy going up and down almost every aisle on a Friday afternoon, but realising that the food shop is essential I decided to look at the pros rather than the cons and realised that if I were to go, I could have more of an influence on some of the goodies that would be brought back home, if I was extra good, and pushed the trolley rather than putting my feet on the wheel arches and gliding aisle to aisle there would be a guaranteed stop at Firkins Cakes remember them? where I’d be able to pick up some of the best iced cakes known to man.

Since then, not much has changed, as consumers we still have the need to shop on a regular basis just as much as clients require financial planning and advice, maybe not on a weekly basis but at least annually. It would however be wrong to say that we are still doing things in the same way. A different approach has been taken by the provider to deliver the same service by other means.

The supermarkets we once went to have evolved, providing delivery services, eliminating the need to spend real time making shopping and making lists, this can be done using your historic orders and even suggestions crop up based on past purchases and themes that are common with other consumers who make similar purchases to you, so they know more about our habits. Driving to the supermarket, looking for somewhere convenient to park, walking down the aisles, trying to find specific items or replacement items if certain stock had run out, is no longer a problem.

There are many other industries which have followed suit and become disrupters, renting films from Blockbuster was the norm just twenty years ago, but we now have Netflix and a whole host of other providers of films, documentaries and tv series which have changed the way we engage with television and is more convenient and, even when taking into account inflation the costs are extremely similar despite more value being with the newer proposition, especially given that you have a subscription for the month for what would have previously given you just two movies. It’s ironic, as Blockbuster were given the chance to acquire Netflix for just £50M which undoubtedly would have been one of the best business moves to date, but they failed to look forward and see the value this service could add to their business model and passed up the opportunity to the detriment of their own company. It could also be said that Streaming services like Netflix have had an impact on cinemas, even before COVID and the next few years may even see the end of the Cinema.

Tesla are another innovative company, and will change the way we drive cars in future, other everyday things like space exploration and self-driving cars. The business is now valued more than the nine largest carmakers showing that there is confidence in electric cars, again the end delivery is no different but the technology and impact that this innovation will have on the environment and the overall benefits for us are astronomical. Now imagine having a self-driving car, if they can get this right, the amount of extra time this will give us daily will be phenomenal.

Yet there is scope for more areas to benefit from innovation. I see Paraplanning as a similar disrupter, with Prudent Paraplanning you are able to benefit from specialist technical support, innovative processes, adviser consultancy, and a range of services which will help you enhance the client adviser relationship and remain compliant, and a high level of collaboration with your team, when you need it.

In-house paraplanning will always play an integral part of financial planning businesses, but outsourced paraplanning provides an extra dynamic, the support and synergy that we have with our clients truly allows your business to receive added value.