Herts, Middlesex and Bedfordshire Autumn Conference

Over recent years, many clients have experienced significant gains in their portfolios. But this is not without risk, especially for those in decumulation. During 2022 and into 2023, the economy experienced a number of shocks that have been reflected in high levels of inflation and interest rates. As we contend with the consequences, there are three key challenges clients face: • Facilitation of more income to keep up with rising costs • Sustaining income over the longer term • Improving legacy benefits In this session, we will look at what can be brought into the mix to offer innovative features for a range of situations.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the impact of the economic environment on retirement income portfolios
• Discuss the impact of markets on financial resilience and sustainability
• Recognise the market developments in guaranteed income

Economics and politics are significantly changing the financial planning landscape. Every pound must work harder. The devil is in the detail and along with the new Consumer Duty, many of yesterday’s approaches are at the end of the line. Join Quilter’s experts to discover the new golden era of client tax planning and the changes you can make to help your clients prosper.

Learning objectives:

• Understand the fiscal changes over the last 12 months and it's impact on the tax rules
• Be able to describe the implications on financial planning and provide examples
• Be able to critically assess why this and consumer duty require different approaches than before.

Refuel and build up your professional network

The financial press frequently suggests financial advisers should cut their fees. We don’t agree. That said, not every advice business can fully articulate the value it delivers to its clients. Our industry research can help evidence your undoubted valued.

In this session you will learn:

• Insights from 200+ of your peers
• What advisers generally view to be most important
• What many advisers are not focusing on
• Useful statistics that precisely quantify the value of financial advice
• A comprehensive list of adviser skills & attributes
• A roadmap to help you assess and convey your value to clients
• 3 case studies to show the different ways this can be done
• What clients think. There is often a sizeable mismatch between what advisers believe adds value versus what their clients perceive to be valuable

‘The taxman’s taken all my dough…’ was the classic lyric from The Kinks 1966 no.1 hit Sunny Afternoon, focussing on the high levels of taxes of the day, but have things really changed? IHT continues to be one of the most controversial taxes, rising by a £1bn to a new all-time high of £7.1bn in 2022/23. With twice as many estates now paying an average IHT bill of £216k (suggesting a total estate of £1.5m+) and receipts forecast to hit £8.3bn by 2026/27 (or earlier!), can your clients afford not to do something about it? Whilst there are a range of investment based IHT planning solutions, It is often said that protection is the underpin of sound financial advice, because it can help to de-risk a client’s assets (and your adviser income), by generating a lump sum on death, either to protect the family, generate a legacy for the next generation or meet the IHT liability. So, this session will focus on the protection planning options available for clients, whilst keeping access to, and control of, their wealth, in a flexible and guaranteed way. This session will look at how whole-of-life, convertible term and joint life second death term policies, can be used to meet the IHT liability and how you can demonstrate the value of your recommendation. Given modern-day extended and complicated families, not only is the use of trusts imperative to ensure the right money, is in the right hands, at the right time, but also the use of children’s critical illness cover, to protect younger families. Ultimately, this is about providing your clients and their families with the reassurance and peace of mind that the IHT liability will be met on death and their estate preserved to pass on to their dependants or the next generation.

Learning objectives:

• Be aware of the current IHT market conditions and how protection fits into the IHT planning process
• Understand the protection product choices available, how they work and how to demonstrate the value to the client
• Be aware of the value of using a trust and children’s critical illness cover can be added to protect younger families
• Know where and how to access Zurich support for advisers operating in the estate planning or protection markets

Grab yourself some lunch whilst speaking with our subject matter experts

Has the turbulence of the last few years left you feeling lost in the woods? In our presentation we hope to provide a comprehensive road map for financial advisers who find themselves disoriented in the current investment landscape. We will present on the recent macro events that have reshaped the markets and caused disruption for investors. We believe that investors must take a global approach to regional allocation and will focus on the benefits of investing outside of the US, looking at China and Europe as viable alternatives. It is important that Financial Advisers and Asset Managers alike recognise the impact of future trends in order to escape the metaphorical forest and position ourselves for success in an ever changing market.

Learning objectives: 

• Explain the recent macro events that reshaped the markets and caused disruption for investors. 

• Describe how investors have been positioned in the past and the regions they should look to allocate to, going forward. 

• Recognise the impact of future trends on our industry.

A review of how outsourcing investment management can affect asset allocation, risk profiling, portfolio changes on platform, performance and fees, with specific reference to consumer duty principle 12. Finishing with a market outlook.

• Explain how strategic and tactical asset allocations are formed and change over time.
• Understand how DFM's risk mapping scores are created.
• How to interpret DFM performance relative to peers.
• Describe and review the current market environment and how to allocate assets considering the uncertainty in markets.