"People will give you a figure and it's rarely accurate. If you give them more time to consider it, it takes a few meetings to get something there. Now with these open banking tools, people can say I earn X amount a month and I have Y.
"So because of these different tech tools that are coming out... we can say to somebody, use your app, keep your banking and finance up to date, let's import that into our system... then we can project it forward. Then you can have a great conversation."
However, platforms have more to do when it comes to innovation, says Owen, such as around fees. Though he adds the consumer duty might force them to do just that.
"It makes more sense to charge fixed fees in retirement. And some of the platforms have struggled with that because they've never set the code to pay fixed fees," he says.
Offering onshore bonds is another area he wants to see improvements in, as well as cash flow planning technology. "There isn't a lot of disruption [outside of the four main providers] to deliver tools that are really easy to use," he says.
Advice is changing
Retirement income has come a long way, having undergone significant reform in 2015 under the pension freedoms, and it's now changing again as the economic environment changes.
Owen says as a result the modern adviser is not just about having a diploma, "these are behavioural scientists, these are people who understand people, who can guide people [towards] making the right decision, but also with a very, very high level of qualification or knowledge".
He says the current economic situation is new to many younger advisers, who have likely never given financial advice in a higher interest rate and high inflation environment.
Adviser training therefore takes centre stage at Openwork. The firm has a learning management system, which gives advisers access to training content and at the same time feeds back to management about what people are learning.
It offers training to advisers in soft skills as well as their technical abilities via face-to-face learning, working with adviser mentors and peer groups.
But when it comes to training through professional bodies they are not doing enough, Owen says.
"The CII needs to step up to the plate and rethink what they offer, is it really fit for purpose anymore?
"There is a great opportunity... to have a retirement strategy exam. It doesn't probably need to be mandated by the regulator, but I think people are going to have to do it anyway. To take these qualifications, these extra level six qualifications, to give them that level of confidence to advise in this area. So we are definitely pushing that."
