Reading the columns by Kevin O’Donnell and Martin Bamford in recent weeks got me thinking about what I would want to see and what I would want to achieve in 2017.

Unifying Paraplanning and Financial Planning

Both Martin and Kevin talk about similar themes of unification. Martin talks about unifying the Financial Planning and Paraplanning communities. It’s quite interesting, because I don’t necessarily see them as divided. Are Paraplanners’ objectives really that far removed from those of Financial Planners?

I’m not sure they are. However, where the opinion of planners is often being sought by professional bodies, regulators, providers, and so on, I don’t feel that Paraplanners necessarily have a voice, an industry body that truly reflects them, their position and their opinions.

So, could the merger of the PFS and the CISI, as Kevin suggests, meet this need? It would certainly be an organisation with a huge membership and potentially a force to be reckoned with. But how can we ensure that their opinions match with the views of such a huge membership?

I’d like to see very specialist mini communities within these large organisations, people that know and understand things better, but as part of a much larger organisation with the influence that means they will be listened to.

Altmann attack 

Another news item that caught my attention since our return to work was Ros Altman’s attack on the Treasury. For those of you that haven’t seen it, the Treasury has designed a guide to educate people about saving, but failed to include pensions as an option. She has also raised concerns over the LISA, describing it has having “mis-selling written all over it”. I have to be honest and wonder whether this is all rather a lot of “noise”.

My main hope with regards savings and pensions is to stop the continuous speculation over potentially changing rules and just get back to the simple stuff again, maybe one rate of pension tax relief, getting rid of the tapered annual allowance and either a significant increase in the lifetime allowance, or even scrapping it completely, though I’m not sure that’s likely!

Business hopes for 2017

Turning to my own business in 2017 and on a more personal note, I’ve got lots planned.

In a couple of weeks’ time, we start on our Standards International WOWW! By Design Development Programme journey.

Whilst some don’t necessarily see the merits of working with coaches and consultants, I’ve worked with a number over recent years, each with differing styles and with differing objectives depending at what stage and what issues we were dealing with at the time. This is the next step in the development of the business.

We have a business plan in place, but we’re aiming that this two year commitment will put some “meat on the bones” in terms of all our systems, processes, development of the team, clarifying our charging structure and so much more. It will give me and all of the Jane Smith team a much clearer vision and a clear plan as to how we’re going to achieve our goals and I’ll look forward to sharing our experiences with you as we move through the programme.

Nicola Watts APFS Chartered Financial Planner, Chartered Wealth Manager, CFPTM Chartered FSCI - director of Jane Smith Financial Planning

After joining the family business in 2000, Nicola qualified to provide advice in 2001, and has been a director of the business since 2006. Since the retirement of her mother (Jane Smith), Nicola bears sole responsibility for the management of the firm, and the advice provided to clients.
Nicola is married to David and has two young children, Emily and Olivia, and Poppy the black labrador.