Perception of financial planners slowly improving

Finance

Finance (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

Perception of financial planners slowly improving

by DONNA SADDLER

Financial planners are being better perceived by clients but there is still history to overcome.

Financial planners aren’t bad: they’re just misunderstood. Financial planners are, like lawyers, one of the professions consumers disdain.

Long pilloried as being the used car salesmen of the financial world, there is widespread confusion in the minds of the public about the role financial planners play.

Consumers often think financial planners are untrustworthy, lacking in qualifications and only in it for the commissions attached to the products they sell.

In reality, what financial planners do is help each client meet their financial goals, taking into account individual circumstances and aspirations and the options that are available to them. They do not have a nanny role to help the client abstain from acquiring conspicuous goods, but they offer advice regarding bigger expenses.

Part of the reason the industry attracts such flack is that although many financial planners are honest and reliable, the whole industry has been tarnished by the behavior of a few bad apples.

Recently consumers are becoming more satisfied with the work of financial planners. Recent research shows that one third of respondents had noticed an improvement in the overall quality of advice given by their financial planner.

Although these results show a positive improvement in consumer satisfaction levels concerning advisers, financial planners cannot rest on their laurels.

There are still issues with the level of complexity of information contained in financial documents and that financial planners are still facing a trust issue.

The industry has a long way to go to cut the wheat from the chaff; lots of guys have got fat and happy based on the growth of the industry, without providing the advice that clients need.

There are also problems with financial planners not taking enough of an interest in their clients.

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