Britains are worrying more than ever about money, yet many see no benefit from seeking financial advice. These are just some of the results from the YouGov survey commissioned by the IFP to coincide with Financial Planning Week

Of those surveyed 66% of women and over half (54%) of men worry about money either always or most of the time and three quarters of respondants  believe that they would be happier if they had more money.

The annual survey also questioned people about their saving habits and found that 30% are not saving anything at all. This is up 6% on last year, and leaves many reporting that they are aware that they are not saving enough for their future needs.

Lack of confidence is still cited as a major reason for people not saving and investing their cash. This year most people feel most confident putting their money into desposit accounts with building societies (44%) and banks (39%) for savings up to £85,000. Half of respondants are not confident about investing in the UK stock market with 54% not confident  about investing in global markets.

At Proposito we have an open and frank relationship with our clients, and so have educated them to understand market volatility which in turn helps them have confidence in their investment decisions. This all starts at our first meeting with them, where we talk about risk, and where we ensure they fully understand their decisions and any implications.

An advantage of our passive investment approach is that we can back test the performance of each of our 18 model portfolios. This enables us to establish long-term averages but, more importantly, it allows us to let our client know exactly how their investment would have performed. We specifically show them the worst case scenario – the worst performance over the last 55 years of each of our portfolios.  We call it the ‘fire drill of investing’ and we do it every year with each of our clients. In essence we set off the fire alarm and see if they can walk calmly through the fire exit and meet at the fire assembly point.

Through educating clients and being open and honest we feel we can help clients see the real benefits of investing and saving

To find out more about Financial Planning Week, please visit the dedicated website at www.financialplanningweek.org.uk.