People worry about the cost of living crisis regardless of their wealth, says Rosie Hooper, and it is new clients who worry the most.
The chartered financial planner at Quilter Private Client Advisers says "regardless of how much money people have, they still want to get real value".
Hooper says she is having more conversations with clients now about savings accounts versus investing, and where money can be put to work most effectively, "to try and make it go a little bit further to try and ease the burden of the cost of living right now," she adds.
There are also more conversations about interest rates – there have been 14 hikes since December 2021 – so "it's absolutely a focus for the clients as well as us as advisers.
"I feel that the client comes to me as their adviser because they trust the advice that I'm going to give them and a lot of the time they just don't want to make these decisions on their own," says Hooper.
Clients also want to know how any decision now feeds into the rest of their plans, she says, which is why she updates their cash flow plan at every opportunity.
"It's a good way to keep the cost of living crisis right now in perspective."
To hear about why new clients worry the most and what Hooper would like to see in the chancellor's Autumn Statement, click on the image above.
carmen.reichman@ft.com
