I'd like to be a mini Martin - any suggestions?

Martins_apprentice

Food for thought and some good questions. Thanks nervousftb.

Edinburghlass_2

Martins_apprentice wrote: »

Martins quote:

Can I get someone to do this for me?

“Aaaarghhh!” I’m asked this all the time, and hate this question; asking it means you’ve missed the whole point of MoneySaving. The process doesn’t just save you cash, it empowers you to understand how companies will take your cash through ignorance, apathy and inertia. Yet even if that wasn’t the case, there aren’t any MoneySaving advisers, the service doesn’t exist, and even if it did, their cost would eat up much of the gain"

I'm going to stick my neck out here (and probably get it shot off) and say that what if there was a service that didn't eat up much of the gain (very reasonable fee) and teaches their moneysavers not to be apathetic and ignorant by showing them HOW to be moneysmart whilst saving them money?

Edinburgh? Go on, I can take it....

Okay, I'll pose you a question. Electricity with Scottish Power, no gas available, paying £102 per month for a two bedroom cottage, no idea of annual usage, billed only once a year, storage heaters, how long do you think it would take you to work out any savings and how much would you charge for this service and if there is no savings to be made how much would your fee be

Aliiyn

Sorry to pour more cold water on your plans Martin's Apprentice, but I forsee 3 significant problems with your idea.

First, what services would you offer as part of this moneysaving makeover? You've already stated that you wouldn't advise them on their mortgage as you are not a trained mortgage advisor. Likewise, you couldn't offer any advice on protecting investments as (presumably!) you are not authorised/registered with the FSA to carry out regulated activities. As far as I can see, the only thing you could do is help someone switch utilities suppliers and maybe improve their meal planning; it isn't much really is it?

Next, how would you woo potential customers and convince them that you have moneysaving skills worth paying for? I don't wish to be rude, but I would run a mile if someone who was not a registered financial advisor/accountant (btw don't trust lawyers; we cannot offer financial advice either!) asked me to pay them to be let lose on my finances! How would you know that that person was not simply trying to find out how much money you had in order to scam you?

The final problem is who exactly is your target market? If people are worried enough about their finances to get someone in to have a look at them, surely they would be sensible enough to first go on one of the many moneysaving websites such as this? Comparison websites are currently trailing a lot of ads on television; why wouldn't they just use/look at them themselves, thus cutting out the middle man (you!). People want to save money in the grips of a recession, it is true, but I'm not sure many would see hiring someone to talk about bulk freezing the way to do it.