Networking, Meerkat's and Honesty.

I love networking. For me, it's about meeting new people, building relationships and eventually working together. One of my new favourites is 4networking where the meetings are relaxed enough to be fun, but structured enough to be productive.

4networking works slightly differently to other groups like BNI and BRX. Where the more formal groups only allow one member from each discipline, 4networking allows as many members from one discipline as possible.

Now, you may be saying, "What a nightmare, 4 financial advisers sitting in a room", but for me, It has been an interesting experience, but perhaps not in the way you expect.

As you may know, a "Financial Adviser" or "Financial Planner" can come in many guises...you have fully independent whole of market financial advisers, multi tied or single tied financial advisers. You also have individuals who can only provide protection and mortgage advice compared with individuals who can provide advice across a range of different advice areas ( including retirement planning and investment planning needs ).

Let me make this clear, I'm immensely proud to be a fully independent, diploma qualified financial planner who can provide a wide range of advice in a number of areas. I also appreciate and understand that it takes all sorts, and there are individuals out there who are multi tied, protection only, or commission only.

However, what I've found is, and how do I put this politely, there is a degree of, erm, misrepresentation some individuals display when talking about their business.

I've heard advisers who are linked to a limited product range call themselves "Independent", as well as protection only advisers call themselves "Financial Planners". For me, as a little meerkat would say, "It's simples"...be open, honest and transparent about how you work, and provide your clients with the full picture before you engage with them.

Now, whilst the behaviour of these individuals is no threat to my business ( I'm happy to continue to build long term sustainable relationships with clients who trust me ), it does mean that the clients of these "Advisers" are not provided with all the information they need to make an informed choice and are therefore may be put in a position where they understand that their adviser is independent, when in actual fact they recommend the same providers day in and day out.

In my opinion, this can only lead to greater distrust in a profession where there are a number of great independent financial planners who can genuinely help you manage your money more effectively. For me, that's a huge shame!!

What do you think?