Industry experts have provided a rich vein of thought-provoking and often controversial commentary to Professional Planner during the year. These articles provide both readers and the editorial team with a high-level analytical lens with which to view the industry and our coverage of the issues and events that define advice.
We’ve collated the five best opinion pieces that have been published on the site in 2020, in no particular order.
The one number that matters to buyers: Paul Barrett
Paul Barrett, CEO at AZ NGA
In a series of columns for Professional Planner, the AZ NGA CEO highlights the importance of practice wage bills as an indicator of value, the beauty of curves and what the data really means. “Wages are a proxy for size and at the smaller end of the scale, businesses struggle to leverage their fixed cost base effectively,” he says.
‘Advice Dividend’ to put numbers on the value of advice
Simon Hoyle, CoreData head of market insights
Not only does financial advice have clear, measurable value for consumers both young and old, rich or poor, but a new study from IOOF and CoreData Research shows the Advice Dividend is often greater for the younger cohort – bucking the traditional line of thought.
Organic business growth starts with questions
David Haintz, founder and principal at Global Adviser Alpha
On just about every measure, 2019 did not turn out the way many people had forecast. Financial markets and geopolitics confounded by the pundits. Likewise, our industry is evolving in ways that few anticipated. There are a few questions principals need to ask themselves if they want to grow their business in 2020, David Haintz reckons.
The monthly review – focusing on wins rather than gaps
Sarah Penn, managing director at Mayflower Consulting
Business strategy consultant Sarah explains the benefits of keeping a monthly journal to keep track of where you’re at, where you want to be, and all the things that will take you from one to the other.
Advice value chain ripe for reconstruction
Neil Younger, Fortnum CEO
In this exclusive piece written for Professional Planner, Fortnum CEO Neil Younger warns that without the support of loss-making licensees, the advice chain will need to be reassembled. This provides a golden opportunity, he says, but participants must resist the siren song that entranced vertically integrated institutions.
