There are 42 of us working at Skerritts, including 11 advisers. We are a directly authorised, chartered financial planning firm with discretionary investment permissions, offering clients holistic, financial planning advice and wealth management. Within that, we have an in-house investment team managing approximately £475m in assets held within our range of funds and model portfolios.
We first began using Dynamic Planner in the summer and early autumn of 2019 and it tackled two issues really for us.
Firstly, we were using a different risk profiler, which produced a score from 1-10 for a client, but which we felt was very subjective about what that actually meant. In addition, we wanted to add another layer of compliance, so that we knew what a risk score looked like for a client and we knew, as a firm, what then we were working towards. Our Investments Team can then run model portfolios and funds based on a target risk score.
Dynamic Planner covers risk mapping and what a portfolio would look like at a given level of risk and it also asks clients questions concerning their capacity for loss, which means we’re covering more in a client fact find. That then gives the client an opportunity to discuss capacity for loss, whereas previously there wasn’t a set trigger point to spark those questions and conversations.
‘A consistent approach’ to risk profiling clients
Advisers have started using the option Dynamic Planner offers you to invite the client to complete risk profiling questionnaires on their own, prior to a meeting – and in the future we hope that will become our standard process.
Ultimately, Dynamic Planner helps you easily demonstrate, compliance-wise to the FCA that, as a firm, you have a framework in place for risk profiling clients and that those questions are being asked. It shows you have a consistent approach.
Secondly, during the due diligence process of signing up with Dynamic Planner, its new Client Review process and report became available, which was something we were looking to introduce across the firm: a formalised and MiFID II-compliant client review process – one in which the admin team could easily support advisers with, freeing up adviser time.
Dynamic Planner has enabled us to achieve the desired process and as a result we’ve really bought into the software as a firm. Using it, we have now completed a full sweep and have a compliant review completed for every client.