Standard Life Aberdeen’s McCarthy on the ‘conundrum’ of needing more advice in a world of fewer advisers

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22 November 2019
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A 35-minute watch.   

Fergus McCarthy is UK distribution director at Standard Life Aberdeen, and in this wide-ranging interview with Andy Brown, talks through the changes in advice, regulation, product manufacturers, and the needs of end-clients; and how this impacts the responsibilities of the industry moving forward.

McCarthy began in broker support, and following 23 years in the industry, has seen the industry significantly change through its market twists and turns, from “transaction to relationship selling to much more consultative selling” and the “onus moving from the state to the individual”.

It means a “cohort of individuals that will over the next 15 years need help from us as an industry”, particularly as the “state pension will not provide salary replacement”, and “plenty of para-planners and advisers and business owners” will retire, creating an advice gap.

In response, he believes “the industry needs to come to foreground, where in the past it’s been in the background” and take responsibility in helping end-clients navigate their way through “to lead the retirement lives they want to live”.

McCarthy goes on to discuss educating end-clients, the regulatory burden of advice, PI cover, succession planning, and getting more people into your advice business.

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