Financial Planners’ confidence about the next 12 months has taken a dive as clients are faced with the dual impact of low investment returns from bumpy markets and soaring inflation, according to our annual Financial Planning Reader survey.

Just over half felt positive about the next year, with 30% feeling neutral.

While this underlines that the majority of planners and Paraplanners are still positive overall, it is a major drop in positivity from the past two years.

In 2021, 86% of Financial Planners told us they were positive about the future and the figure is even lower than the 77% of readers who were positive about the future in 2019 when Brexit uncertainty was at a peak.

In our latest survey clients were also concerned about the future, according to advisers. Two thirds (66%) of our readers (Chart Q3) said that clients had contacted them during the past year to talk about their concerns about their money or the economy.

Concerns shared by clients were overwhelmingly focused on inflation, stock market volatility and concerns coping about the rising costs of living.

You can read the full article in the latest issue of Financial Planning Today Magazine.

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