By offering free financial planning sessions to the public, “there is a real chance to do societal good", according to Ian Howe, founder of Druthers Financial Planning.
Speaking to FT Adviser, Howe discussed why he was offering free sessions as part of the CISI’s financial planning week.
Every year, the CISI hosts financial planning week to encourage people to talk about their finances and debunk myths surrounding advice.
Over the course of the week (22-28 January), planners UK-wide will run various initiatives such as heading into local schools to talk about financial literacy and share guides and articles.
Howe said he decided to offer free financial planning sessions to help people change their relationship with money.
He said: “Financial planning week parks the tension between offering our time freely and the commercial need for us to charge fees to be able to serve clients for the long-term.
“It gives us the opportunity to prioritise helping people without them worrying about the cost.”
Howe pointed out that paying for financial planning goes "beyond the means" for a lot of people, even though many would benefit from it, which further highlights why offering free sessions is so vital.
He said: “Running these sessions gives people a chance to step back from the daily melee of coping with their finances, to reflect, to budget, to prioritise and to consider what’s really important in life and deploy their finances to suit.”
However, Howe felt that offering these types of sessions can and should happen beyond financial planning week.
He said: “I would give two or three hours every week of my time to offer free planning and I’m sure others would too.
“We just need a vehicle to unite behind and to organise us.”
In terms of what Howe would like to see the sector achieve in the next 10 years, he wanted to see regulators offer “stability and goal posts that don’t move as much”.
He added: “Years of primarily well intentioned regulations designed to protect the unwary against unscrupulous sales people has morphed into an industry that’s lost sight of its purpose, to protect the client not itself.”
It comes as research by the CISI, published this month (January 11), found people who see a financial planner have a better quality of life and more financial confidence than those who do not.
It found almost two in five of those who see a financial planner said their mental health and family life had benefited.
Meanwhile, when looking for a planner, 60 per cent said the most important factor they valued was having someone they could trust.
alina.khan@ft.com
