This term refers to the situation where many people do not have access to professional financial advice that could help them make better decisions about their money.
What is the Advice Gap?
The term ‘advice gap’ was created by the financial services industry and it refers to the struggles many consumers have experienced whilst trying to access financial advice. There are some key elements to the advice gap that are worth noting:
- It disproportionately affects low-to-middle income households who often cannot afford the fees charged by financial advisers. Financial advisers tend to cater more to high net worth individuals due to the fees they charge. So lower income groups struggle to get advice that could help grow their savings, plan for retirement and invest their money more profitably.
- Many people are not aware they need financial advice or don’t know where to get it. They may make poor financial decisions as a result. They might also need additional support or care as they are vulnerable customers, though they may not know this themselves. Self-assessing vulnerabilities is difficult without adding in complex financial needs.
- There is a shortage of financial advisers relative to the large number of people who could benefit from advice. This makes it difficult for many to access advice.
- The advice gap is estimated to cost UK consumers over £5 billion per year in missed interest and avoidable fees. So it has a significant economic impact.
How can we close the advice gap?
Closing the advice gap requires making financial advice more accessible and affordable for the average household. This can be done in many ways, from bettering the education that’s available to all consumers, to the implementation of new technologies that will ease the burden of time-consuming tasks for advisers, freeing more of their time to meet with new clients.
How can Aveni help?
Aveni’s goal is to ease the burden of low-value tasks for advisers in order to revolutionise their productivity. With reports and assessments generated in minutes after a call is concluded, personalised calendar updates to ensure that time is effectively managed as well as pre-call preparation.
Aveni Detect helps to identify what support is necessary for customers, supporting them through transitional or permanent states of vulnerability. This is essential in ensuring that customers are given the full scope of support they need, to understand their unique situations to help them make the best financial decisions.
Aveni Assist transforms adviser productivity, negating the need for manual note-taking and reporting. By reducing administrative time from hours to minutes, advisers are free to connect with new clients who have thus far been able to receive financial advice.
