News and Views from UK Financial Planners, IFAs and Advisers this week...

COMING SOON : New regional Mastermind Groups for IFAs and Financial Planners… Your chance to meet up, network, exchange ideas and share best practice with other LifeTalk members.

Since 2004, the heart of LifeTalk has been our online community, but for the last few months we’ve been planning regional in-person Mastermind Groups, and we're now in a position to start revealing details.

Where would you like us to host them? Click here…

From the LifeTalk forum

Liam and 19 others: I’m not sure if there have been posts about this before but a client of mine has been approached by this provider about a review of their portfolio. I say approached I mean harassed and hassled until they finally agreed. Question…

Marco and 20 others: Would it be possible to have a quick chat with someone who has implemented and uses the Timeline portfolios? I really like the look of them and just wanted to be clear on how things work on a day-to-day basis. Just so I’m clear. Click…

John and 43 others: We are currently evaluating our use of Voyant. I was wondering if we could get a simple list here of alternative cash flow software I could go and check out. Obviously I know about Cash Calc but there are I'm sure some others in the market. Click…

John and 9 others: Do any of you use a tool or process to profile your potential clients when they are at the very beginning of coming onto your radar? Click…

LifeTalk member and 9 others: Is there a checklist anywhere I could use when considering buying a client bank from a retiring IFA? Click…

Stacey and 26 others: Business cards, NFC and QR codes? Hi, we are looking at getting new business cards but started to think how we could possibly move more into the digital age. Question…

Rohit and 33 others: What are people hearing about IHT being scrapped? Click…

Sian and 4 others: Has anyone seen any really great materials that explain investment risk to clients? Click…

Jim and 13 others: Does anyone know off the top of their head which platforms support both automatic bed & ISA for a client with GIA and ISA portfolios, and who will also facilitate phasing an initial investment into the marketplace over say 3 or 6 months? Click…

Bryn and 23 others: if a pension is fully crystallised can you do a partial transfer, eg to buy an annuity with say half the pot. I’m getting mixed messages… Click…

Darren and 16 others: Interested in any views and hands on experiences good or bad with defaqto engage? Did/does it help or hinder your advice/client experience and why? Click…

LifeTalk member: I am trying to gauge whether a deal I am potentially entering into looks competitive for a business with circa ￡75m under management and one advisor. As a percentage, approximately how much of your ongoing passive income covers compliance and advice guidance costs? Click…

LifeTalk member: Currently employed as a RI with a DA firm for past few years and seriously considering either joining a network/DA. I feel DA would not be the right approach right now given the majority of the client bank built belong to the DA firm so effectively would be starting from scratch. I have built good relationships with professional connections as a source for referrals, so I'd be interested to hear from people in the group who were in a similar position and what networks work well with someone who may not have a client bank to take with them at the start! Click…

Charles and 36 others: Now A J Bell have stopped doing new commercial properties into SIPPs, does anyone know of other provider that do? Other than the usual Curtis Banks and Dentons? Click…

TRAINING : Introduction to AI for Marketing and Lead Generation for IFAs. Watch the recording here...

From LifeTalk Marketing

Phil: Congrats to another adviser here in the UK who has published their own book.

Only yesterday I was speaking at an adviser conference about the value of writing a book, and right on cue at the break Ravi Solanki comes up to me with a copy of his: What We Leave Behind - Discover How to Leave Your Legacy and Protect Your Wealth.

Great job Ravi - it will be the best business card you'll ever give out. Click to view…

Phil: The latest list of networking events is now available. Don't forget that you can find events by region, town or city, online or offline and also events just for women.

And why not set up your own networking event? There are many benefits for financial advisers who do this. Chris Daems of Cervello Financial Planning did this very successfully. Click…

Phil: The understandable upset over the Sycamore Gap tree being cut down shows that people often care more about individual stories than big numbers. It's like when someone hears about a single person's story, it hits harder than hearing about hundreds going through the same thing. (AKA the "identifiable victim effect.")

For IFAs and financial advisers, this means that when talking about (say) protection products, telling a story and using case studies about one person who really benefited from it can be significantly more effective than just showing charts, stats and percentages - something the protection industry is known for. I did it for years. Telling stories make it much more real and relatable for clients and prospects. Click to read more…

That’s it for this week…

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