By Lucy Paul Surfing is a constant exercise in listening and responding. A surfer studies the tide, the weather, the swell and the breaks, and once on the water, rides each wave by feeling the environment around them. A paraplanning business is no different. Paraplanners work behind financial advisers, researching options, running the numbers and writing the reports that advisers use to recommend how clients save, invest and plan for retirement. Many advice firms outsource th

Walk into almost any financial planning firm in the UK and you'll find the same pattern. The advisers meeting clients across the desk are, more often than not, men. But look behind the scenes; at the technical analysis, the cashflow models, the suitability reports that actually make the advice sound and the picture flips entirely. Women make up roughly 48% of paraplanners in the UK, according to the FCA's 2025 Advice Market Survey. In support roles more broadly, that figure r

Since 6 April 2026, firms with the right permissions have been able to offer "targeted support", a new form of consumer support sitting between generic guidance and full regulated advice. The framework lets firms support clients with decisions about investments and pensions on the basis of limited information rather than a comprehensive assessment of a client's circumstances, delivering a ready made suggestion based on a client's alignment with a predefined consumer segment.

There's a quiet crisis running through financial planning firms across the UK. It doesn't show up on a balance sheet. It doesn't trigger a regulatory alert. But it's costing advice businesses time, money and in some cases, clients. It's the advice bottleneck. Here's how it typically looks: a skilled, experienced financial adviser - the person clients trust, the person who drives revenue, the person the business depends on - is spending a significant portion of their week writ

There's a word the FCA keeps using in CP26/10, its March 2026 consultation on simplifying the pensions and investment advice rules. That word is proportionate. Firms should gather proportionate information. Apply proportionate judgement. Document in a way that is proportionate to the complexity of the advice. On the surface, this sounds like less work. Shorter fact finds. Leaner suitability reports. A lighter regulatory touch. I'd argue it's actually the opposite. What CP26/1

For as long as most of us have worked in this industry, pensions have sat outside the estate for Inheritance Tax purposes. It's shaped how we've built retirement and legacy strategies for clients for years: spend other assets first, preserve the pension, pass it on largely tax-free. From 6 April 2027, that assumption no longer holds. This isn't a proposal under consultation. The Finance Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 18 March 2026, and it puts the reform into law for death