Fiona Murphy reveals her New Year's resolution
Welcome back and Happy New Year. I hope you had a good break over the festive period and are not feeling too shell-shocked as you sit back in the office (or wherever you are reading this).
My New Year's resolution for COVER magazine is to keep the adviser firmly at the centre of everything we do.
But what will 2015 look like for the adviser market? Will we see an increase or decrease in the number of people who advise on protection or health insurance?
I've heard conflicting views about this. Some people argue that we will continue to see a capacity crunch on adviser numbers and that the number of people selling protection will continue to fall.
There is no clear consensus on whether other aspects of financial planning will provide an opportunity or diversion for many advisers. However, an angle could be advisers sitting down with their clients to discuss auto-enrolment and the new pension freedoms.
This could provide advisers with a neat sideline into discussions on financial planning, particularly the protection piece.
Another interesting issue for the protection market is greater flexibility in life plans, allowing people to access a portion of funds early for care needs, which I have written about this month.
Is this something that will engage advisers to have a broader conversation on care needs with their clients? I hope so, because I'm sure it will be really positive for the market and for the public.
Let me know what you think - @cover_Fiona and/or [email protected].
