Targeted advice can help with your aims

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It's the start of the year when articles about New Year’s resolutions and spring cleaning your finances appear, but I’ve always thought autumn is the time for new beginnings..

The summer holidays can give you space to think about your finances and decide on change, but where to start? You could do the work yourself, and it turn out fine. Or you could dive into the world of social media or – forgive me – “finfluencers”.

Alison Gay | Supplied

But, if you’re not OK with the risks involved with either, and want regulated or at least regulation-adjacent help, what’s on offer?

At present, you have two options – maybe two and a half. You can get guidance from bodies such as MoneyHelper or, for retirement-related issues, PensionWise. These are free, government-backed impartial guidance services to help understand options. They don’t offer personalised advice, but can point you in the right direction.

At the other end of the scale is full financial advice. This involves a comprehensive fact-find of your financial situation and fully-regulated advice, which comes at a cost.

And the “half” option? Something called simplified advice, which is a tailored recommendation, designed around a specific need – ie, looking at the suitability of investing a lump sum, but without considering your wider circumstances and other financial needs. But you may struggle to find simplified advice – it has not proved popular with firms reluctant to provide a service which falls short of full advice but still puts them under the regulator’s eye.

Lang Cat research backed by government figures, found that fewer than one in ten of the population have used paid-for advice in the last two years, leaving a big group of people who may need help but are unable to access anything suitable. Which is why the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is currently consulting on a new option, to be known as targeted support, for people thinking about pensions and investments. It won’t be fully personalised advice, but firms will be able to offer one-off packaged solutions for groups of people with common characteristics.

For instance, encouraging consumers with significant savings held in cash, but with some appetite for risk, to consider investing. Or helping people who have automatically been put in a default pension fund consider if they would benefit from switching to one that fits better with their goals.

It’s not a coincidence government is keen to urge people with cash savings to move into investments, but this is more of a carrot rather than the big stick of fiddling with ISA limits.

The FCA has been working with firms on proposals for targeted support and most have agreed it will be offered without charge. In due course, it may be the first stepping stone for some towards full advice. But, unlike other free options, it will only be offered by regulated firms, which means they will have to comply with rules on value for money, product suitability, consumer competency, and providing appropriate support. Proposals for targeted support are still under consultation, but with the financial industry, government and regulators keen, the aim is to have it in place by the end of the year.

So for 2026’s financial resolutions, whether made in January or autumn, there will be more targeted support in place.