Financial Advice Archives - Page 3 of 9

The 5 Levels Of Professional Competence

by Tony Vidler Professional competence is now a clearly demonstrable thing isn’t it? Or is it? Can an adviser be considered as having competence and incompetence simultaneously? I think so. Competence has been a primary focus of regulatory reform, and that’s fair enough. Consumers have a right to expect it from their advisers and […]

Where should your Professional Development focus be: becoming a Brilliant Technician or an Orchestrator running the show?

by Tony Vidler Professional development is all the rage…the regulators and the professional associations and training providers in the compliance space are all putting it top of mind continuously. And virtually all of them have an extremely narrow focus when it comes to the concept of developing a professional. They want to develope brilliant […]

Imagine if we REALLY were 100% honest with clients

by Tony Vidler We are expected to be 100% honest with clients, and total honesty with clients is a wonderful concept but 100% honesty in all things with our clients would kill the relationships and kill the industry. Don’t get me wrong: I believe in full transparency and ensuring consumers get all the information […]

10 Reasons why an Advisory Practice just stays “practicing”

by Tony Vidler Why is an Advisory Practice called a “Practice”? I think it is because more often than not the business is mostly practicing to be a business. When a “practice” has actually made it then everyone calls it “a firm”. THE common denominator in a Practice appears to be that the Principle, […]

How to create a MORE effective client report

by Tony Vidler The typical financial planning report or statement of advice produced for clients is ineffective. An effective report gets the key points across as quickly and as simply as possible, so that the reader understands them, and is then able to make decisions relatively quickly and easily. It will engage, motivate and rapidly […]

THE Business Opportunity for Advisers

by Tony Vidler Businesses are the business opportunity that most advisers just seem to walk past. Most just don’t seem to do business with businesses…and that is a massive opportunity area. The typical small business is usually doing one of two things: growing, or going…. …and either is a fabulous opportunity for advisers. Regardless […]

What do Life Insurance customers want?

by Tony Vidler One of the questions that continually vexes professionals is “what do customers want?“ In the life insurance area of financial services the answer is even tougher to find than usual, because insurance for virtually all consumers is an absolute grudge purchase. When we think about it logically every person who buys […]

The missing ingredient in professional development: SKILLS

by Tony Vidler We are awash with recommendations on how to “improve the advice business” and enhance professional developement. Regulators, politicians, consumer groups, product manufacturers…competing business models that look to bypass advice entirely….all of them are making a lot of noise about how advice delivery can be improved and where professionals involved in the […]

Professional Credibility & the “Trust Me…I am experienced” line

by Tony Vidler “Trust me…I’m an experienced professional…” How many times do we hear a professional claiming that a client should trust them and deal with them because they have X number of years experience? Does this “years of experience” thing really translate into professional credibility? Increasingly cynical consumers ask themselves “do you […]

Written Advice: Should it be Clear? or Concise? Or Effective?

by Tony Vidler When it comes to delivering our written advice to clients there is a tendency to be guided by the words used by the regulators, or law, in how that advice is framed or written. The written advice, be it financial plans or Statements Of Advice being delivered to clients, are however […]

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