Take a trip into the future now

18 February 2010

Readers of HG Wells’ The Time Machine will be familiar with the beautiful but hapless Eloi people who depend upon the Morlocks providing them with food for their survival. The price the Eloi pay for this reliance is with their own flesh as the Morlocks feed upon them.

This is a perfect metaphor for our industry. Sure, IFAs might be gilding the lily in claiming to be “the beautiful people” but the metaphor of Morlocks (life offices and investment houses) and food (commission) remains and seems to have done so since 1895.

When we set up our business in 2008, we did not want to be like Weena - the Eloi left to drown by her colleagues, so we needed a time traveller to rescue us.

Time travel is even more appropriate here because heaven knows the industry was in need of stepping out of the dark ages and into the future. Our time traveller arrived in the nick of time by the name of Nucleus. It need not have been Nucleus but it certainly had to have been a truly independent wrap, that is, not a Morlock disguised as a time traveller.

Herbert George was clearly making a moral statement in his tale. We are not. Our view was that the IFAs/Elois had contributed their part to this evolutionary corner. It was what it was and remains so. We just wanted an alternative.

That alternative was us being in control of our business and for that to happen, client ownership needed to be unambiguous and remuneration both transparent and in our remit. The independent wrap serves exactly that purpose.

Some IFAs prefer to continue to be told what and where to eat and that is understandable because no change is painless. However, our Nucleus experience has been such that the overwhelming balance has been for the better.

There is a massive benefit from working with your provider to design and deliver your personal menu over being served the same old fare at prices beyond your control or acceptability.

The Nucleus model of part-IFA ownership facilitates this relationship better than is likely to be achieved in other set-ups.

The benefits to clients and hence us have been multifarious. They include low, competitive and crucially, transparent charges. No apples smuggled away under the table. Access to information is detailed and instantaneous making servicing so much simpler. Tools such as rebalancing and capital gains tax calculation provide added value to the experience.

We would encourage you to press your lever forward, if only gently at first, to step into and shape your and your clients’ future.

Robert Bray is wealth architect at Imperious Capital If you would like to contribute to My Beautiful Wrap, please email tracey.scott@ centaur.co.uk

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