Useless IFA on BBC 3 Counties Radio - Translation please - "12.3K CGT allowance Wrapper"

dunstonh

Wouldn't most decent/confident people just be honest?

There is nothing to even hint at dishonesty.

I don't think this was a case where he was really answering unexpected questions.

We don't know what he was told but the comments suggest that the conversation went off on a tangent into an area that was not expected.

The question was the topic framed in a light entertainment mid-morning talk show and he should just give some pre-planned advice.

He is not allowed to give advice. That would be a breach.

And whilst you now say it was a light entertainment mid morning show, it is clear that you didnt feel that way with your comments in the first post.    If you put your head above the parapet then you do expect to be shot at.   A local radio show isn't necessarily going to have the most skilled media savvy guests.  A  good host would protect the guest somewhat.  Unless they were intentionally trying to trip the guest up.      The key thing to remember is that advice cannot be given but you appear to expect to have been.  So, ultimately, you are always going to be disappointed with the response.

IanManc

I've listened to the clip and I don't think the IFA did anything wrong.

The interviewer didn't seem to have prepared what he wanted to ask, and fired things at random at the IFA. The interview had no structure and because of that it didn't elicit much of value.

Had the interviewer researched the sort of things that listeners wanted to learn about, perhaps by asking for listener questions, had asked interesting questions and then listened to the answers and built further questions around those answers then the segment might have gone somewhere.

As it was, the IFA's knowledge and expertise weren't brought out and he was then terminated when the necessary timeslot had been filled with some noise to use up the required amount of programme time.

The sub-optimal outcome is not the fault of the interviewee.

solidpro

dunstonh said:

He is not allowed to give advice. 

An independent financial advisor isn't allowed to give any advice, you say? Sounds like you're as useful as tits on a bull then.

Tell me, if you're not allowed to sell anything and you're not allowed to give advice, what is it you do?

bowlhead99

solidpro said:

dunstonh said:

He is not allowed to give advice. 

An independent financial advisor isn't allowed to give any advice, you say? Sounds like you're as useful as tits on a bull then.
Tell me, if you're not allowed to sell anything and you're not allowed to give advice, what is it you do?

I expect he is in the business of providing regulated financial advice to individuals who have sought it, complying with all the FCA guidance in getting to know his client and carrying out a fact-find so that that he can ensure the advice dispensed is suitable for the individual's circumstances and their knowledge, risk tolerance, capacity for loss etc to ensure the advice is going to be suitable... so that the customer won't then be able to come back and successfully complain or sue you ten or twenty years down the line for inappropriate or unsuitable advice.

You can't really do that over the radio, a one-way medium, because all the listeners will have vastly different personal circumstances and you don't know anything about them.

bowlhead99

Here's an analogy:
You work in IT and comms and if you are old-school having worked with IT and electronics for a few decades you will probably know how to wire a plug, yes?

However if you went on the radio to give some insights into modern IT strategy from the perspective of an organisation like yours, and then part way through the interview it turned out the DJ had a problem with some of his broadcasting equipment being on the fritz and he figured that you could probably help because anything with a plug on it is something he sees as an IT problem, so he asks you to help him work through the problem there and then.  You might be a bit frustrated if you had to stop talking about the things at which you excel, and try to remotely talk him through rewiring his mains plug with a rusty knife to get it going again.   You would be cagey about what you could say, because (a) it isn't what you earn your money doing day to day and not your favourite topic (b) it could result in a bad outcome for the presenter, (c) likewise for tens of thousands of listeners who listened to the show and tried to have a crack at rewiring their own electrical goods to make them work better, (d)  you are not even getting any money from it, so reluctant to do something that comes with potential liability. 

As IFAs can carry liability for bad advice for life, they are understandably reluctant to dispense it in anything other than general terms (for discussion purposes or to inspire debate).

A particular problem with (c) above is that there are many people out there who don't listen properly or can't follow simple instructions, so you are not going to try to give them detailed technical insights as a one-way conversation over the radio that could cause them a major health problem if they get it wrong.  Likewise, Dunstonh or IFA Steve on the radio show may be pretty competent at dispensing technical and tailored financial advice one to one, but they're not going to be able to give the individual audience members that over the radio, because they would not want the audience member to implement the detailed technical advice badly because they misunderstood it or because there was some subtle difference in their personal circumstances which made it a long way from the best option.   An IFA doesn't want to inadvertently cause a major financial problem by giving too-specific advice that could be misunderstood or doesn't really work for a particular individual hearing it.  Just like you would not want to teach someone how to wire a plug over the radio by describing where to cut and strip the electrical insulation off the cable to get access to the right wires to put into the right holes.

[Deleted User]

I hate to heap more suffering onto an already tortured analogy but isn't this case more like someone who knows how to change a plug being invited on to a radio show to discuss modern IT strategy, and then having to pretend some expertise in the matter? 

In some ways, financial advisers have a tough job because, for them to function successfully,  they have to maintain the illusion of possessing superior knowledge; rather as a comedian, however desperate, has to appear to be able control his audience.

dunstonh

solidpro said:

dunstonh said:

He is not allowed to give advice. 

An independent financial advisor isn't allowed to give any advice, you say? Sounds like you're as useful as tits on a bull then.

Tell me, if you're not allowed to sell anything and you're not allowed to give advice, what is it you do?

Of course the adviser can give advice.   However, he cannot give advice on the radio as to do so requires FCA regulations to be complied with. Something tat is impossible to do.  So, discussions, just like on this site, have to be generic and not be presented as advice but guidence.

eskbanker

Perhaps worth noting that the guy whose mugshot adorns the top of this page presented another one of his TV shows and, despite his careful cultivation of his 'man of the people who knows his stuff' image, and the careful preparation and scripting in the trademark dumbed-down style, there are still plenty of threads started on this forum, as usual, by those who watched it and misunderstood what was said....

solidpro

So if you want to get someone on the radio to give advice, make sure you don't get anyone who is a financial adviser.
Maybe they should get Barry Scott on next time, of Cillit Bang fame.

eskbanker

solidpro said:

So if you want to get someone on the radio to give advice, make sure you don't get anyone who is a financial adviser.

If you want to get financial advice (in the regulated activity sense of the word) then engage a financial adviser, preferably an independent one of course.

If you want to have a generic discussion about finance on the radio, it'll work better if there's a clear steer given about the exact topic, with minimal shifting of goalposts thereafter.

If you want to understand more about financial matters, it's probably best not to rely solely on snippets from rambling off-the-cuff radio conversations but to research in a more structured manner from more suitable sources....