There were some fantastic speakers at the IFP Conference.  However there was one presentation which, for me, stood out.  Carl Richards is an american financial planner who specialises in explaining potentially complex financial concepts with two things.  A piece of paper and a felt tip pen.  Which brings me onto the second thing I learned:-

2.  Simplicity

In certain ‘knowledge based’ professions (such as Law, Financial Services and Accountancy) individuals and businesses we earn our living in 3 distinct ways:-

• Firstly we provide advice and guidance based on our understanding of your circumstances, the current rules (regulation, laws and allowances) and how you can achieve your goals in our specialist niche.  Within most professional service sectors this includes a degree of coaching and planning our clients.
• Secondly we work as a “middle men/women” to help administer and implement.  For example, an accountant may be the ‘middle person’ between their client and the HMRC, a lawyer may be the ‘middle person’ between their client and the courts and a financial planner may be the ‘middle person’ between, for example, the clients pension and investment providers.
• Thirdly we act as translators.  All professional service providers have a responsibility to their clients of taking their knowledge, removing the jargon and explaining potentially complex topics in ways their clients will understand.

Many of us perform these tasks incredibly effectively.  However I believe we can (and should) make more effort to translate potentially complex subjects in a way our clients will understand.  Carl Richards has a knack for explaining these subjects visually, some of us will be more comfortable with using analogies or examples, and some of us will just avoid the jargon related to our profession when engaging with our clients.

There are two clear reasons for doing this.  Firstly, I believe that greater consumer understanding of any profession ensures greater trust.  This may be in you as an individual, your business, or your profession as a whole (depending on what’s important to you as a professional).  This seems to me like a positive step forward.  Secondly, I believe that by explaining financial concepts in an easy to understand way we can encourage a more financially aware and astute society.  This benefits us all.

I’m currently giving this some thought and deciding the best way both as an individual (and a business) I can help ‘make money simple’ for both my clients and society as a whole.  Can you do the same?

As ever I’m interested in your thoughts….