Our pick of the longest serving advisers describe some of the highlights of their careers, what keeps them passionate about their work and their hopes and fears about the future of the profession: -
Alan Steel, Chairman, Alan Steel Asset Management
Alan Steel may have become frustrated by the amount of regulation that ties up his industry, but he insists it has been worth enduring such problems to build long-standing relationships with clients.
‘I genuinely enjoy helping people become financially independent, saving them tax and stopping them from being ripped off by cowboys,’ he says. ‘I also like taking on people like Equitable Life – which we did – and beating them.’
Steel’s career began in the late 1960s as a trainee actuary but within a few years he became a financial adviser, just a few months before a stock market crash. ‘I have now seen so many crashes that I am almost immune,’ he says.
Since he started running his own business 1975, the highlight has been winning awards for investment advice under the noses of better resourced competitors, he says. But he is concerned that the retail distribution review (RDR) may be effectively forcing out experienced hands.
‘The biggest change is the fact we are regulated by so many, at such great expense, and to no avail,’ he says. ‘My fear is that after next year this will result in a dramatic drop in the standards and quality of advice given.’
Quote courtesy of www.citywire.co.uk
Friday 23 July 2010
