George Kinder, the US founder of the global Life Planning movement, believes the RDR will be the catalyst for more advisers making the step to Life Planning.
Speaking in London, where he is now based for much of the year, he said he believed the RDR was "30-40 years in the coming" but that it was much needed in the UK and a "terrific idea."
He said he expected the RDR to increase the number of people training to become Life Planners and he hopes to double the number of 350 Life Planning advisers in the UK during 2013. The UK market, he said, was seeing the fastest rate of growth in any country in its uptake of Life Planning.
Life Planning is a particular style of Financial Planning that focuses, at least initially, on clients' desires and wants rather than financial calculations and monetary solutions.
Mr Kinder is a keen believer that financial advice should be available for everyone and said the fact that many high street banks were cutting their financial advice services was a "huge mistake."
He said: "The banks themselves aren't clear on what they are doing and what they are delivering. They've not been great and seem really confused about offering client-service models."
He said he believed the Financial Services Authority was a much stricter regulator than its equivalent in America in dealing with the banks and was more serious about encouraging client-service models.

"The FSA is one of the best regulators in the world and most consumer-orientated. It doesn't mean they're perfect but they're doing the right thing."
Mr Kinder is currently in the UK running courses on Life Planning and promoting his new consumer-focused book 'Life Planning: A Business Manifesto'.
This book covers life planning for consumers, the differences between Life Planning and Financial Planning and why lack of client interaction caused the banking crisis.
He said: "Advisers will learn a lot about the banking crisis and its relationship to Financial Planning and also about the EVOKE process and its inspiration.
"The book is designed for consumers so it can also be a gift to your clients to learn more about Life Planning."