Paul Sullivan had an interesting article on the New York Times on the 31st July.
Here’s an extract;
AFTER all the turmoil in the markets, after Bernard L. Madoff and a bunch of other financial scandals, investors may well be questioning whether they’ve chosen the rightfinancial adviser.
It may be someone you like and trust, but is it someone competent to manage your money?
A recent PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 238 private banks and wealth management firms is not reassuring. “The economic crisis has presented client relationship managers with challenges that they have neither the experience nor the skills to deal with,” the study said. If quality of advice is the real differentiator, the study went on, then wealth managers need to make sure that their advisers have the relevant skills, tools and training.
What is disturbing in the study’s findings is that only now, after the crash, have wealth management firms realized they need to train advisers to do a better job.
“Does the person you’re talking to understand?” said C. Steven Crosby, head of PwC’s wealth management practice for the Americas. “It’s not going down a checklist and saying how many wives, how many kids, how many homes? It’s what wealth means to you.”
STATE OF PLAY The survey paints a picture of the wealth management industry that may be different from what investors expect, particularly investors with substantial wealth. Mr. Crosby said the survey questioned managers who advised clients with $500,000 to $20 million.
Of that sampling, only 7 percent said they felt strongly that they had received adequate training to complete their job to the highest standard. A little more than half said they felt they had received some training. What is shocking is the rest — some 36 percent of wealth managers surveyed — said they believed they were not fully qualified to do their job.
Read more of this article here – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/01/your-money/financial-planners/01wealth.html
