I’m back from a short break and while I was away a lot has happened: a general election has been called, Brexit has been postponed once again and Woodford has pretty much collapsed and been subject to a BBC Panorama investigation.

A new report out today from the FCA and The Pensions Regulator has thrown up some disturbing findings and also blown out of the water the myth that only the poorly educated and vulnerable are the victims of the pension scammers.

If you are a Financial Planner, millennials - those aged roughly 18-38 - are potentially the next big client target group…but there’s a problem.

I’ve always believed that when it comes to investing you should get what you pay for. If you buy an actively-managed fund you expect a smart human (and his or her friends) to be taking some wise decisions with your money. The personal touch, if you like.

In these days of remote working, video calling and cloud computing, it suprises me that actually getting together with other finance professionals remains not just popular but increasingly so.

Bristol-based Financial Planning firm Paradigm Norton became the latest firm this week to launch its own academy, this time a twist on the more general initiatives with a ‘Leadership Academy’ in partnership with University of the West of England.

The euphoria following a landslide election victory is probably not the best time to make long-term investment decisions and I’m sure many planners will have treated today as business as usual, partly because many of the fundamentals are the same as last week.

The appointment of Andrew Bailey as the new Bank of England Governor today came as little surprise but it does open to door to opportunities for a new direction for the FCA.

Just before Christmas I suggested that the FCA needed a new direction post-Bailey. It may already have found one although it is clearly not the direction everyone wants.

I was reminded this week that Financial Planning is much more of a profession than a business by the latest Charles Stanley results.