Fairstone clients value expertise and peace of mind as top priorities

Peace of mind and financial expertise, particularly during challenging economic periods, are the top benefits of receiving financial advice.

The findings come as part of a new survey by Fairstone, one of the UK’s largest Chartered financial planning firms, which revealed that over two thirds (70%) of respondents said the expertise of their financial adviser was the thing they valued most.

Over half (52%) regarded peace of mind as their top benefit and 85% said they are committed to a long-term plan and investment strategy, demonstrating they value the lasting impact of financial advice.

Fairstone clients also rated the comfort of an experienced financial adviser as significantly more important than the time (12%) or costs (14%) saved by managing their wealth themselves.

The results form part of Fairstone’s latest annual client survey, where more than 2,000 respondents aired their opinions on a range of financial issues, from what factors are the most important in financial planning and what prompted the decision to first take financial advice, to what issues could keep consumers awake at night.

Other survey highlights include:

• Over two thirds (67%) said Chartered status would be one of the criteria when choosing a new financial adviser.
• Pension guidance for retirement was the most common motive for first seeking financial advice (26%) while popular prompts included receiving an inheritance (10%), buying a house (8%) and getting a first job (7%).
• 42% of respondents first took financial advice under the age of 40, with 45% aged between 41 and 59 and a further 14% over 60 years old.
• Not having enough money for retirement, funding future care home fees and falling victim to scammers are some of the financial fears keeping consumers awake at night.

Fairstone CEO Lee Hartley said: “Talking regularly to our clients is an essential part of our approach as it helps us to recognise what they think about financial services, giving us a unique insight into their thoughts, patterns, and behaviour and what shapes their decisions around investing, retirement and financial planning.

“In our latest client survey it was particularly encouraging to see that clients placed a great importance on the value of financial advice during times of economic uncertainty; the role of financial advice is absolutely pivotal during such periods, which underpins our commitment to maintaining close contact with our clients to provide reassurance, support and first-rate advice.

“This builds the foundation for us to build trusted lifelong relationships with our clients and their families across all of life’s cycles.”

As part of the new survey findings, Fairstone also published its Annual Client Index, highlighting three tangible outputs: an overall client satisfaction rating of 98%, a repeat advice rate of 93%, and £5.3 million of annual investment cost savings which have been passed directly through to clients.

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