Truro is financial advice capital

Data from unbiased.co.uk reveals the Cornish city has the highest percentage of population in the UK searching for a financial adviser.

The South continues to show strong demand for advice, as residents of Stevenage and Salisbury have also remained in the top three this year, ranking second and third respectively.

But the figures from unbiased.co.uk, which deals with over 500,000 searches for a professional adviser per year, show Scotland has been on a drive for financial advice this year.

A new entry at number nine, Motherwell knocks Exeter out of the top ten most searched for areas as a percentage of population size. Kilmarnock has also moved up the top table, from tenth to fourth position.

Meanwhile, Belfast, Glasgow and Edinburgh have all fallen out of the bottom ten postcodes with the lowest percentage of population searching for financial advice.

This year London, which has the highest population in the UK, is in the lowest percentages of populations in the UK searching for a financial adviser.

With changes to pension rules and interest rates remaining high on the news agenda this year, unbiased.co.uk’s data shows the most popular areas that consumers are searching for advice on continue to be pensions, investments and mortgages.

Within these advice areas; annuities, pension reviews and transfers, re-mortgaging, ISAs and investing for income are the most sought after.

Research from unbiased.co.uk last month showed that 35% of the over 55s said retiring was the event which has had the most significant impact on their lives, and yet despite this, only 26% of this age group had sought professional advice when planning their retirement.

Overall, 17% of those who did not seek advice when planning their retirement say they regret not doing so, and a further 17% who did not seek advice at the point of retirement say this was a mistake.

Karen Barrett, chief executive of unbiased.co.uk, said: “Our financial advice hotspots map reveals which areas in the UK have the highest percentage of people searching for a financial adviser in the UK – and Truro tops the list for the second year in a row, showing that people in the South West continue to be more engaged with their finances than the rest of the UK.

“Advice is important for everyone though, no matter where you live and how much money you have –our network of advisers do not only work with people who have large pots of money to invest.

“In August this year, 37.5% of our advisers said they would advise on pension pots of £25K or less, and a further 36% said they would advise on pots between £25K and £50K.

“We hear from a lot of consumers that they simply don’t know how to make sense of certain areas of their finances and therefore tend to put off dealing with them.

“The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be an expert yourself to seek advice, but it can make all the difference to your family’s future if you do seek advice at the right time.”