Branch matters: Spaghetti results on the table for new Chairman
Nicola Watts CFPTM Chartered MCSI, one of three Chairs of the Northern Home Counties CISI branch, talks about recent developments in her region
I have recently taken on the position of Chair of the Northern Home Counties CISI branch jointly with Lien Luu CFPTM Chartered MCSI and Andrew Reeves CFPTM Chartered FCSI.
Andrew (of The Investment Coach) and I were both approached regarding taking over the role from Lien, but we decided to take it on jointly, splitting the role between us. We have had some excellent speakers over the years but I have found that much of the value comes from networking with other members and learning from them and their experiences. We hope to be able to continue the IFP’s culture of sharing within the new CISI branch system.
We held our first meeting of the year on 24 February and were lucky enough to be joined by Nic Spicer, Portfolio Manager at PortfolioMetrix. He provided a useful insight into risk and return and how many providers are delivering 'spaghetti' results – portfolios labelled as higher risk are often lower risk than a medium risk portfolio and risk is not necessarily being rewarded, leaving us as financial planners to deal with the clients who are not receiving the outcomes they were promised. Personally, this is one of my key concerns when working with discretionary investment managers. If we are outsourcing this part of the process, how can we be sure of what is going to be delivered? How we can monitor this on an ongoing basis? As a user of PortfolioMetrix I may be slightly biased, but they seem to be doing 'what they say on the tin' – as portfolios increase with risk, so clients are rewarded commensurately, and there is a clear division of responsibilities – there is no grey area that could leave us unknowingly at risk in the event of client claim.
Jason Butler CFPTM Chartered FCSI, formerly of Bloomsbury, then entertained us in his own inimitable style with his story of why he gave it all up, selling his business and his plans for the future – applying what he achieved with his financial planning clients to the wider market, educating, speaking and using technology. Could there be a way of simplifying and systemising the process to engage more people in financial planning but at a price that means it is still profitable for us?
We are one of the few former IFP branches that has not merged with an existing CISI branch, and we are continuing to run branch activities as we normally would. However, we have already seen some new faces at our first meeting in 2016 and we will be looking for their input on other possible events. But, we are keen to make events relevant for the audience and so will maybe look to run both separate and joint events.
Watch this space...