Industry news and views from Panacea and our partners.
Paraplanning_
M&G wealth: Award-winning technical support, ten years running
M&G has been named Best Technical Support for Paraplanners at the Professional Paraplanner Awards 2026 - for the 10th year in a row - and Best Provider Website for the second year running. Explore Tech Matters for expert insight, tools and answers to your trickiest technical questions.
M&G: Paraplanners Assembly 2026: Tune up your tax year end to-do list
Mark Devlin joined host Richard Allum for a practical run through of everything paraplanners needed to consider ahead of tax year end.
Paraplanners face aspiration and confidence gap over future career paths
Just over half (51%) of paraplanners want to progress their career within paraplanning. Only 13% see themselves becoming financial advisers/planners down from 24% in 2025.
Should Paraplanners Be More Formally Recognised by the FCA?
We recently ran an industry survey asking a simple but important question: Should paraplanners be more formally recognised by the FCA? The findings reveal some striking differences in how paraplanners, advisers, compliance professionals, and business owners view the role of paraplanners when it comes to FCA recognition, regulatory oversight, and qualifications.
Paraplanners: From Support to Spotlight
In a short period, the role of the paraplanner has become paramount to successful financial planning businesses. A paraplanner's role is to take some of the administrative burden off a financial adviser but has expanded from its origins to incorporate research and report writing.
Prudential: How to help clients with investing their companys surplus cash
Many companies keep rainy day money in case of emergencies. But what if theres more money than the company needs? Use these materials to help start the conversation with your clients about investing their companys surplus cash.
M&G Wealth: Paraplanners Assembly 2023: Do tax wrappers go to heaven?
The big idea is that, next time one of your clients gets in touch to say someone close to them has died, this Assembly will help give you the confidence to say: Please dont worry about anything. I can help.
2022/23 Financial Planner: Fascinating Facts and Figures salary guide
Paul Harper Search publish their guide year on year, and the statistics and findings are always interesting! The facts and figures are based on FCA data and insights from communicating with clients and candidates on a daily basis. The guide contains:
Financial Advice Managers & Directors Salary Survey
Our salary survey report provides detailed insights into the compensation patterns across various types of Financial Advice Businesses, including Banks, Large Advice Firms, Small-Medium Advice Firms, and Private Equity-Backed Buy and Build Consolidators.
Interview Tips
Feeling stumped during an interview can be nerve-wracking. But fear not! Here are our top 5 tips on handling those dreaded moments with confidence:
Prudential: UK investment bonds: taxation facts
Discover key infomration about the taxation regime for UK Investment Bonds on PruAdviser. Chargeable events, part surrenders, policy loans and more.
LV= Smoothed Bond - The smooth way to boost tax-efficiency
LV are here to help you grow your clients savings while reducing the impact of volatility, and with their Smoothed Bond you can make the most of its unique features to do just that. Designed to provide long-term steady to moderate growth, with very low to medium level risk investment.
LV= Smoothed Managed Funds Adviser Guide
Your clients could benefit from LVs Smoothed Bond at any stage of their lives. For further information on the ideal client, risks and eligibility in the Adviser Guide.
Metlife: EverydayProtect Sales Process Guide
This guide from MetLife allows you to identify clients that could benefit from EverydayProtect, understand how EverydayProtect can meet the needs of these clients and outlines the Financial Conduct Authoritys expectations.
Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Considerations around pension contributions
Paul Squirrell, Fidelity Adviser Solutions pension expert, runs through many of the considerations relating to pension contributions for 2023/24. This includes the annual allowance and how tax relief is applied across the various types of contribution, tapered annual allowance, MPAA and the tax charge.
YouGov: Phased retirement benefits and drawbacks according to retired British employees
According to recent survey findings, three out of five retired British employees believe that phased retirement has the potential to improve work-life balance (62%).
Prudential: Retirement planning made easier
Discover how Pru's enhanced online capability, competitive pricing structure and access to their investment expertise could help your clients as they plan for their retirement.
Prudential: Tax Landscape 2023 and beyond
We are now settled into a new tax year and having had a breather (?) it is maybe time to take stock and see where the tax landscape lies and most importantly where the key areas are for the financial planner.
The secret of successful selling
I first met Jamie Smart nearly twenty years ago and have seen him build two successful businesses and author some excellent books and programmes.
Quilter Cheviot: Taking Stock - How I Spend
A little while back I wrote a piece called How I Invest. Saving and investing is just one side of the coin though, and we all like a nosy into how other people spend their hard-earned money, therefore I thought that a few words on how I think about my spending would be a natural follow up.
Schroders: Is ChatGPT right about the value of advice?
There will no doubt be a plethora of articles using ChatGPT emerging this year, so despite having spent a significant time in this industry (35 years and counting!), I thought Id better prove Im not a luddite and take a look. Wouldnt want to miss out on the action.
The Exeter: The Exeter HealthWise 2022 report
Were excited to launch our third annual HealthWise report in which we share how your clients are using our free member health and wellbeing app, HealthWise.
Britons perception towards robo-advisors and AI concerns, trust, and more
In recent years, the financial industry has undergone a technological revolution that has transformed the way investors manage their portfolios. The emergence of robo-advisors in the UK has played a role in this transformation, using advanced AI algorithms to analyze customer data and provide personalized investment recommendations.
Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Talking points The latest technical insights in one place
A summary of Fidelity Adviser Solutions' latest insights for tax year end.
Royal London: A guide to family protection
What is family protection and how can it be used to provide a safety net should the main breadwinner fall ill or die.
What makes a client want to engage a financial planner?
A successful financial planner I work with remarked to me that no one ever approaches him for a financial planning engagement. Instead, there is usually a trigger event that leads a client to thinking they want a financial product, investment advice, or financial problem solved.
No pressure selling and influence part 2
Being a powerful influencer is a vital aspect of your role with clients and yet it is something that advisers can be uncomfortable with. In part 1 of this article we looked at the first of 3 common symptoms of feeling under pressure and what is really behind clients having a great experience of you.
No pressure selling and influence part 1
Being an effective influencer and confidently selling your services are essential skills if you want to build a thriving practice based upon getting great results for your clients. And yet it seems that many advisers feel uncomfortable and lack confidence in this area. For instance, they may feel under pressure, fear rejection or have negative thoughts and feelings about selling and asking people to act.
The real problem with fee charging (and it is never about the money)
Fees and fee charging are now a fact of life for financial professionals and yet it seems to be an area that creates far more challenges than is necessary.
Huge pressure from FCA on directly authorised advisers
It was highlighted last week that Directly authorised IFAs have questioned the regulatory approach to vulnerability, claiming they themselves are under growing pressure and stress from the Financial Conduct Authority and from the rising cost of living.
Fidelity Adviser Solutions: Challenges and strategies for income in retirement
The introduction of unfettered drawdown means planning an income in retirement is far from straightforward and identifying a sustainable withdrawal rate is crucial given the prospect of fund exhaustion has increased. Fidelity's Paul Richards and Paul Squirrell discuss important areas when considering retirement income.
My top 10 coaching books for financial planners
If you are doing genuine financial planning where you are helping your client identify and accomplish their goals and live the life they want, then coaching them will often be a necessity.
Clients are not willing to pay fees for financial planning really?
Clients are not willing to pay fees for financial planning! This was the bold claim of a financial adviser in a recent LinkedIn post.
The key to effective rapport building for financial planners
A deep rapport with your client is the foundation for a productive, profitable, and long-lasting relationship. Therefore, being highly effective at quickly building and maintaining a deep rapport is an essential skill for financial planners. In this article I share a whole new understanding of building rapport that can help you deepen any client relationship and create better outcomes, for both your client and you.
Better time management for financial advisers and planners
As a financial planner are you as productive as you would like to be? Would you like to get more done, in less time, and with none of the stress? In this article I am going to explore the hidden factor that leads to genuinely better time management for financial advisers and planners.
The power of PruFund - Retirement income and drawdown (60 minutes)
In this session, we explored some of the key retirement income planning myths uncovering the key considerations when developing retirement income plans and how to ensure your clients have a plan that delivers the outcomes they are looking to achieve, in a way they understand.
Should Financial Planners stop talking about retirement?
Could a whole profession be out of touch with a significant portion of its potential market? Think about the people who are reaching retirement age right now.
Paraplanners lost in the ether of regulation
The SMCRs (Senior Managers Regime Certification) was created to address risks posed by adviser firms employees, whose role may allow them to do significant harm to the firm or its customers.
FundsNetwork: Paraplanning in a Pandemic 2021 report
FundsNetwork are delighted to be sponsoring Professional Paraplanners unique report Paraplanning in a pandemic. The report covers the development of the paraplanner role within financial advice firms as well as the impact of the pandemic crisis and how the market might change going forwards.
Parasols survey: You're in the driving seat. What do you want from technical events?
As one of the industry leaders of outsourced paraplanning support, we know the industry inside out - it's our job to. In our opinion, us Paraplanners are a well-networked elite and we're hungry for events which give us lots of technical content - the real practical nitty-gritty type stuff that we can take back to the office and use in our day-to-day work.