Contrarian Investor: Why the industry must step up and fill the advice gap

Regulation is not helping

It is time to revisit the familiar advice gap - again. We all know the advice gap is real and it is also getting much, much worse.

In addition, regulatory pressure is not helping, not least in the growing confusion between what constitutes advice and guidance. Renewed evidence for the second assertion comes only this week in a report called Which way forward? by Sanlam UK. This looked at the most obvious, dangerous gap which exists around retirement time. The study found three quarters (74%) of those who have retired in the last five years did not consult a financial adviser, and nearly one in five (18%) did not consult one because they could not afford it. The report compares attitudes of 1,000 people who have r...