Captain’s log, stardate 2016. We have entered a strange new reality, one where all information is accessed instantly at the click of a mouse . . .
Okay, so Captain Kirk has tackled more outlandish alien universes but if you’re an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) aiming to boldly go where no IFA has gone before, the world of high-speed data access can be intimidating.
Why? Well, if everyone has access to all information, how can anyone whose career is based on being a broker of knowledge hope to add value?
If an IFA can only provide data that’s one online search away, surely their profession is heading the same way as the penny farthing mechanic?
Thankfully, if the regular vacancies in the Financial Services sector of s1jobs are anything to go by, the opposite is true.
Being an IFA is still a warp-factor fast career path for anyone with a good eye for details and a willingness to keep themselves informed and way ahead of data-munching online search engines.
There was a time when any economist or trader worth their salt would tell you the only thing that makes money in any market is asymmetric information – put simply, when one party knows something the other doesn’t.
And once upon a time this is where the IFA showed worth to clients by providing ‘top secret’ information not accessible by the general public.
In effect, however, using asymmetric information worked by distorting competition in the market for financial products, making it difficult for consumers to choose what was best for them.
Today the thoroughly modern IFA has evolved and the emphasis has shifted to offering clarity in products and services – and greater transparency in how they actually operate.
This new way of empowering clients by using information is essential for advisers to survive and prosper.
By placing themselves in their clients’ shoes, advisers build trust – and a trustworthy human being, with answers to a personal situation, will always trump cold facts and often contradictory advice gleaned from anonymous sources online.
As the web brings down barriers to information, the IFA acts as a guide straight through to what actually works best for individuals and organisations.
In your work as an IFA there are no final frontiers, so boldly go with new roles on s1jobs.