Its survey reveals that financial advisers spend around 80 per cent of their time giving non product-specific (generic) advice to clients.
By highlighting how important generic advice is to the process of financial planning, the findings support the work being done by the PFS and Citizens Advice (CAB). The financial advice pilot project (FAPP) is a six month project designed to evaluate whether links between bureaux and independent financial advisers can fill the gap in the provision of independent generic financial advice for low and middle-income consumers.
Commenting on the research John Ellis, PFS Director of Public Affairs, said: "Whilst generic advice doesn’t actually lead to the recommendation of particular products or services, it is without doubt, as our research shows, an essential part of the financial planning process and something that should be more readily available to people on low and middle-incomes - something the PFS is actively looking into and promoting through its work with the CAB."
