I was asked a very good question by a prospective client today: ‘How do you keep on top of the ever-changing tax, legal and investment landscape’.
The answer is not by maintaining the mandatory 35 hours of CPD required by our professional body (in my case I have three; CISI, STEP and PFS).
That would never be enough to maintain the required level of knowledge, given that we don’t have the usual in-house portfolios of our competitors and specialise in clients with complex needs. We need to know what is going on in the whole market as what is the right solution for a Non-Domicile, Non-Resident individual thinking of moving to the UK is going to be very different from what is needed by a UK Resident law firm partner. The young, recent inheritor with deeply held Social Impact values will have a completely different need again.
At my previous firm it was easy, because whatever the client question, the answer was one of five in-house model portfolios. In those days I found it hard to find enough content to fill the 35 hours, now I can fill it several times over.
Our approach is; whether you call in CPD or just learning, the best way to get it, is to pay for it.
There is a huge amount of adviser CPD available for free. If it is free to the adviser though, it has been paid for elsewhere. Much of this content is provided by the large, legacy investment houses who are the ones with the huge marketing budgets (and high client fees). As an adviser you can accept this content, but you will end up with a very skewed view of the world; active investment management is best, complex annuity products are great, investment bonds are tax efficient, to list just three myths that perpetuate in adviser world.
As with free social media software, if the product is free, then you are the product.
If the adviser is paying the provider for content, then (and if it seems obvious – it is) the provider is free to source the best possible content and pay speakers, trainers and coaches to deliver it.
We are big believers in paying for content and getting to hear the best ideas out there. The majority of our advisers attended Humans Under Management this year, at a reasonable size cost to the firm. We do it because we know that the content will be some of the best in the profession. There will be no sitting through a market update from a fund manager whilst sipping crap coffee.
I attend a monthly study group which requires a hefty subscription, which has been the biggest source of new ideas in the last two years. Again, quality costs, but pays you back many times over. I also attended a conference in Spain this year which wasn’t cheap for the firm.
Every rule has a noble exception and, in this case, it is Kathryn Knowles at Cura who provides something close to a charitable endeavour with her Practical Protection Podcast. There is no better source of knowledge about the protection market and advice. We owe her a salute (and probably by now a bottle or two of wine).
Here is an idea, ask your adviser how they stay up to date with what is going on in the world. If they say that their firm provides in-house training, raise a quizzical eyebrow. If they say that they attend free events put on by their professional body (we see you PFS and CII), then ask who pays for them (answer not the members’ professional fees).
Then come and speak to us about how we believe in a different way of doing things.