Sceptics may have questioned warnings that the soaring cost of Professional Indemnity Insurance would put some advisory firms out of business. They may have to eat their words.

The FCA’s comprehensive adviser sector review published this week brought some surprisingly positive news. The number of advisers is on the up after years of plateauing or decline.

I was going to dedicate this column to a timely look back at 2020 and a look forward to 2021 (see lower down). Then something happened.

So are 4,000 regulated firms really going to collapse this year as the FCA has warned this week could happen?

I was mightily impressed this week by the words from the expanding senior team at Glasgow-based holistic Financial Planning firm Murphy Wealth.

If I was a Financial Planner I would likely be infuriated by the news today from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme forecasting a levy on regulated firms of over £1bn over the next 12 months, up 30% on the previous year.

It was, to some degree, inevitable that private equity firms would turn their attention to UK Financial Planner firms.

I imagine most Financial Planners have a picture in their heads of their ideal client - perhaps a client who looks a bit like their existing clients.

This year, at least since March for obvious reasons, has been a wipe-out for Financial Planner events culminating in the postponement of the Personal Finance Society’s much-anticipated Festival of Financial Planning.

Last weekend I went out to a restaurant for dinner for the first time in four months. It was fabulous. I’d forgotten what a pleasure it was to be served good food in a decent restaurant. I’d also forgotten how much it costs. Ouch!