You couldn't make it up

It turns out that the 1970's hit single which revitalised Jacko's waning career, 'Blame it on the boogie' was written by one...Mick Jackson (click on the image for the full story in the Guardian).

The rights to Mick's barnstormer hit were sold, without his knowledge, to Joe Jackson, Michael's manager - and the rest, as they say, is history.

Interesting, isn't it, that a story about 'what might have been' is linked to a song named 'blame it on the boogie'?  In the current economic climate, it's just a little too easy for us, as IFAs, to look around and find targets for blame.

Usually, those targets are external.  We convince ourselves that we are not doing as well as we'd like because (a) we don't have enough clients, or (b) those we do have don't want to 'buy' anything, or (c) investment markets aren't attractive enough, or (d) just make something up.

Of course, these excuses contain just enough truth to be semi-plausible, but the reality is that the causes of failure are all-too frequently somewhat closer to home.  Do we really have business propositions that are so profoundly unattractive that clients who are struggling financially can't see any benefit in coming to us for help?  Is our investment advice or wealth-management service so poorly constructed or presented that potential clients can't detect any differences between us and the bancassurers?  Does the general population really have its finger so on the pulse of successful financial-planning, that they simply don't need our services?

Clearly, the causes of failure are often rather closer to home.  The economy will always be up, down, all over the shop - and yet we need to have a service proposition which offers value to our clients, irrespective of market conditions.  What will that look like in practice?

If you want to find out more about 2020 Financial Services unique proposition for accountancy-based IFAs, you can download our leaflet by clicking here.