The industry is changing, but what won't change in the next 10 years?

There's a lot changing in financial advice right now. AI is turning up in meetings and suitability reports. Consolidators are buying up firms. Customers arrive having spent an hour with ChatGPT going down rabbit holes on their questions.

It's natural to spend most of your time thinking about what's changing. It's where the opportunities to innovate and stand out tend to show up.

But we think it's also particularly interesting to ask the opposite question. What is not going to change, and will still matter in 10 years?

Jeff Bezos famously asked this at Amazon. His answer was lower prices, better selection and faster delivery. It's hard to imagine a customer in 2036 wishing Amazon were a bit slower or more expensive. A good answer gives you an anchor in unsteady times, and a way to focus time, effort and money on what will last.

A bit of context if this is the first thing of ours you've read. We're building Towpath, a new financial advice firm. When you're building from scratch you have to decide where to spend your time and money, so this question has been on our minds as entrepreneurs. But we think it's just as relevant for advisers thinking about how to invest in their craft.

We found a good starting point for testing ideas is the question "Would anyone ever want less of this?" If the answer feels like a strong no, then maybe that's a good candidate for something that won't change anytime soon.

We got excited about these three things that feel the most enduring.

Three things that won't change

Trust

With something as important as money, nobody would ever want to trust the person advising them less. Whether it's "you'll do this when I ask", "you've got my best interests in mind" or "I'll rely on you when I don't know better myself", the need for trust isn't going anywhere. What might change is where and how it gets built. Twenty years ago, nobody was getting tips from a YouTuber and building trust in their expertise and judgement. But the need for someone you can rely on stays.

That's what makes trust worth investing in. It builds slowly with every interaction, it can't be rushed, and the fact it can be lost makes it all the more valuable. And there's no ceiling. It's exciting to think what you could do for a customer who trusts you completely, rather than one who trusts you enough.

Being understood

Nobody has ever wanted their adviser to understand them a bit less. The big facts, the aspirations, the deeper emotions. Understanding these is what lets you recommend the right options and help move someone from A to B on any decision that touches money.

A fact-find will tell you someone has £400k in their pension. It won't tell you they watched their dad work until 70 and promised themselves they never would, and that this is quietly driving every decision they make. We think the industry can do a lot more to move from fact-finding to really getting to know someone. What might change is how. If technology takes care of the accounts, policy numbers and holdings, meetings can focus on the bigger questions and the subtleties of how someone thinks.

Peace of mind

Nobody wants to feel less sure they're going to be okay. It's why many people seek advice in the first place. Perhaps what delivers peace of mind will change over time. Or perhaps what people worry about will. But what won't change is that feeling of sleeping well at night because you know the big decisions have been made well. That's what people will keep paying for.

What about investment returns?

We debated whether great investment returns should be a fourth. Nobody has ever wanted lower returns! Of course returns matter, but we don't think they're on the same level as the other three. They're more nuanced and less universal. When you talk to people about their money, returns are rarely what's top of mind. And many households that don't need high returns may be better off with less risk and a smoother ride. It's part of why some people choose an annuity: they trade upside for certainty. If anything, one of our strongest views is that many advisers are too focused on investment performance.

What's left when you strip everything else away

What this exercise did for us was distil how the industry adds value. Strip away the financial products, the platforms, the format of the process. And you're left with someone you trust, who understands you, and who helps you gain peace of mind.

Perhaps these three feel obvious. They aren't supposed to be novel. But we find it striking how little of the industry is organised around them. Annual reviews can easily drift towards fund performance. Fact-finds are usually built around a compliant suitability report rather than getting to know someone. And firms track growth in assets under management, but nobody measures whether their customers sleep better at night. Has the industry lost its way a little?

We'd be intrigued to hear what you think won't change. Is there something on your list that isn't on ours? Email us at [email protected].