The effect on investors by the advent of R.D.R.

Posted on 12 August 2013 by Douglas Chadwick

The Saturday Telegraph reported on the analysis carried out by GfK a research firm that has investigated investor trends over the last five years. It said that during this period 63% of investors were taking and paying for financial advise and that this represented around about a million people. However since the introduction in January of the rules brought in by the FSA (now the FCA) to make the costs of advice more transparent, there has been a sea change in investors willingness to pay. Their research shows that people with more than £100k to invest are 20% less likely to pay for advise and people who have less than £50k are 30% less likely to pay. This apparently represents about 340000 people who are now going to be travelling down the D.I.Y. route. That is a lot of people. This has been recognised by Brokers and Fund Supermarket platforms who are rapidly adapting their approach to assist these people to trade without the use of advise and assistance from the IFA world. However these platforms are still not giving unbiased performance information on the funds that are written up on their websites. The money they receive from the Fund Investment Industry is still unclear and is opaque to the outside onlookers eyes. The cost of using these platforms has fallen to an attractive level but will you be able to trust the investment information? Advertising will still be contributing to the profit made by these platforms and Broker houses. Surely this is the time for an organisation such as the Saltydog Investor to become the upfront tool for some of these 340000 people who are looking for simple up to date numbers on the performance of the Unit Trust, Investment Trusts and ETFs markets. They just have to be made aware that this knowledge exists, is totally unbiased and available.