The Edge: New Generation Of Financial Planners

The financial planning industry relies heavily on human interaction and personal relationships to thrive. With the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO), financial planners had to come up with new ways to continue providing their services to clients and to secure new clients as well. 

One of the key takeaways from the financial planning industry is that the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has announced the expansion of the scope of services for financial advisers, allowing them to provide advisory services for investments such as bonds and stocks in the near future, as opposed to just recommending financial plans, insurance policies and unit trust funds. 

Ian believes that a person’s financial plan should have a clear direction and strategy, hence the SC’s decision allows a single financial advisor to provide a more comprehensive financial portfolio rather than the client having separate intermediaries from different financial services with varying philosophies. 

Ian cautions that financial planners need to bear in mind that they are there to help plan for and advise their clients regarding all aspects of their personal finance, reminding them that they may end up becoming full-time stockbrokers if they are not careful and end up concentrating more on giving stock advice rather than the main focus of their service.

This article can be found online here.