Gosling's Grouse: How can the FSA define a 'happy outcome'?

GOSLING'S GROUSE

Outcomes - it is the most overused word currently in the industry, even outpacing risk.

So, what are outcomes? Well, according to the FSA, they are what the whole industry is going to be about. Life is all about client outcomes. That pre-supposes the past 250 years of financial services, since Scottish Widows starting selling life assurance, was not about outcomes. Perhaps I have been getting it wrong all these years, but I thought the reason anyone took out a financial product or received advice was because they wanted ‘an outcome.’ Clearly I have been scribbling away under some great misunderstanding over what the whole industry is about for the past 25 years. And I ex...