Delegates at NextWealth Live debated the future shape of retail wealth management and these are eight interconnected themes that wove together throughout the day:

You can read the full conference report now, kindly supported by PEN.

“The whole day was inspirational, start to finish.” 

Don’t miss next year’s debate: we’ll be back at the Royal Institution on 19 March 2024 exploring what comes next for our industry. Reserve your place now.

1. Propositions: “Customisation – the ability to personalise solutions, portfolios and outcomes for individual clients – will be a big trend that we’ll all need to deliver on over time.”
2. Service: “People don’t want to spend all their time thinking about their finances. If we can give them the confidence NOT to have to interact so regularly with financial services – that’s a good thing.” Watch Nathan Long, Senior Analyst from Hargreaves Lansdown, full remarks from NextWealth Live.
3. Advice: “It’s been said that the highest point on a client/ financial planner interaction is the moment the client leaves the room after their annual review…Everything we do after that reduces the client relationship.”
4. Platforms: “The reality is as the technology has moved on, you can launch a platform in months without writing a single line of code or hiring anyone new.” Read the highlights from our platform debate in our report.
5. Technology: “Being able to translate everything into a workable plan that always comes back to what the client wants to achieve…means you get away from good year/bad year and instead can focus on the long term.”
6. Asset trends: “Many advisers don’t want to be a fund selector – they want to be a service provider. And that shift is bringing new entrants to the market – especially in model portfolio services.”
7. Psychology: “The brain is not… interested in what is true – it’s interested in the stories that we tell ourselves about the world…And that becomes interesting when we’re trying to persuade other people with our stories.
8. One-to-one: “…when clients get to a certain age and a certain level of assets – their needs shift from needing ongoing advice to ongoing guidance. …That’s where that technology and a hybrid approach can do a lot of the heavy lifting.” Watch the full interview between Heather Hopkins and Daniel Harrison, CEO True Potential.

The theme of this year’s conference was connectivity. One of our passions at NextWealth is to foster connectivity across our industry. Bringing people face to face to network, share insights and find solutions to challenges. Connectivity is also about how we connect with machines to connect with a wider audience.

Currently, just 7% of the UK population have access to financial advice. So how do we reach a wider audience in retail wealth management? How do we articulate our value? How do we tell our – and our clients’ – stories? And how do our businesses need to adapt and change to make those connections deeper, stronger and more rewarding? These are all themes explored at NextWealth Live.

Download our report, supported by PEN, to find out more.