Graeme Urwin recently wrote that the Financial Services Authority have published their final version of the Retail Distribution Review Consultation paper.
I won’t go over what Graeme said, although if you want to know more you can read it here:
My piece on it is that it’s long overdue. Unfortunately, the reality is that there are some financial advisers in the UK who operate on the ‘sell, sell, sell’ approach and who sometimes appear more interested in the commission on offer (and often the provider that pays them the most) than on what the person in front of them (the client) is looking to achieve.
Providing professional financial planning services to clients should not really be about financial products. Yes, you may need to purchase products / policies from time to time, but they should not be the determining factor when making important financial decisions.
Let’s hope the whole profession steps up and starts to offer individuals what they really want – 100% unbiased (meaning a product may not be the best solution) advice.
Now, last month I discussed the importance of backing up your personal data (I’m assuming you already do this in your work environment).
Well, guess what happened to me within a few days of backing up all my data?
You’ve guessed it – the dreaded ‘blue screen’ appeared on my laptop.
If you’ve never experienced this, let me explain the emotions.
A mild sweat breaks out all over your body as you fight to remain calm. You start rebooting / racking your brains for any clues as to what’s just happened.
You then go online using your spare laptop / PC (highly recommended, so don’t throw your current one away when you next upgrade), searching forums for the ‘easy’ answer to your problems.
One you’ve exhausted this, you eventually speak to an IT expert, who advises you to drop off your machine so he can give it the once over.
You wait for the ‘phone call.
Deep down, you know what he’s going to say…
Yep, it’s buggered.
Worse still, the hard drive is so corrupt that none of the data can be retrieved.
Now, imagine how you’d feel if none of that data had been backed up?
Not too happy I’d imagine!
My experience was:
-
get machine back from IT guy
-
start to re-install all software
-
log onto back up service and proceed to restore all data
-
within 2 days all the data had been restored. I’d only lost about 4 days worth since the last back up
Cue feelings of relief and smugness (just a little).
If you want my personal recommendation regarding the service I use, you can read it all here.
