Why do over 50s trust Martin Lewis more than financial advisers?

People have an inherent distrust for paid advice and a proclivity to accept hearsay. If something worked for my friend's uncle, surely that would work for me too? (Not!)

Financial advisors spend a lot of time and money in education and qualifications and are are strictly regulated. They also have to abide by various codes of conduct and have to put their clients' interests first. Avoid them at your own peril.

Looking into the history pages, the financial services industry is not short of misselling scandals. And, sorry to say, if you are over 50 you are old enough to remember most of the key ones. You are likely to have bought your first home when endowments were being sold alongside interest-only mortgages. If your experience was like many others, instead of a promised surplus, you ended up with a shortfall, requiring a plan B for repaying your mortgage. Add in PPI, pension opt-outs, Bernie Madoff, high commissions, exit charges and stories of excess (even in recent years), and then you understand why Martin Lewis is more trusted. Nearly every misselling scandal leads back to conflicts of interest around commissions. Misselling is here to stay until financial advisers adopt transparent and fair fixed-fee charging models.

What is it with marketeers and statisticians that decide once you are over 50 your interests and views are the same as someone aged 60, 70, 80 or in this case 90! Using the same thought applied to this research I would suggest the answer is because "he's a lovely man."

I like Martin Lewis and I think he does an excellent job of educating people on financial complex topics in a clear and easy-to-understand way. He's also largely seen as independent. Unfortunately the financial services industry is it's own worst enemy. Countless episodes of mis-selling and unscrupulous tactics over decades have understandably made the public wary.

People that now fall into the over 50’s category were those most impacted by the crash in 2008. Financial advisers weren’t solely responsible for the crash but the financial services industry really got battered back then. People lost trust in financial advisers and turned to the likes of the ‘Money Saving Expert’ which boosted Martin’s popularity. It’s been a bit of an uphill struggle since then, although helped enormously by the various industry reviews that have occurred since. Martin is already directing people to specialist advisers who can help them understand the booming over 50’s mortgage market, there are more options available now than ever if you’re over 50. A broker that knows their stuff is invaluable. Martin has the power to quash the last remaining stigma and has a duty to do so given his influence.

At New World, we have identified three major issues or 'gaps' that hold the financial advice world back - and Martin Lewis addresses two of these very well. The education gap and the trust gap.

Financial advisers need to understand that the world is changing and their business model and fee structure are both unsustainable and self-defeating in the quest to onboard and gain the trust of more people.

Martin Lewis is only (one of) the first to do this well, and with AI well on the way, financial advisers that don't communicate well, don't change their business model, and remain focused on charges linked to investment pots, will either need to adapt or die.

We all know what happened to the Monks when the printing press came along...

Perhaps because he's allowed to talk straight, without the regulator breathing down his neck and minus the copious amount of irrelevant jargon that will generally remain totally unread but that has to be sent out to clients by advisers.

It’s no surprise that over 50s trust Martin Lewis more than Financial advisers… there are a few key reasons:

The money savings expert website helps people spend less, which means more money today.

His advice is practical, well explained and often easy to implement.

Most financial advisers focus on helping people make better decisions when it comes to saving and investing.

Spend less = actionable and measurable.

The financial advice profession is horribly tribal!

You don’t need to spend too long on social media to see financial advisers have strong opinions - and most of them are very anti other financial advisers!

Active vs passive, fixed fee vs ad valorem, are you a “lifestyle financial planner” or a mere “financial adviser” within the profession many seeds of mistrust are sewn

I would hope the answer is "because they haven't met the right adviser yet", as finding the adviser that best suits you is just as important as their skills, knowledge, and expertise. For those who haven't yet found their perfect adviser (or maybe haven't even looked?) then Martin represents an easily accessible and knowledgeable source of information, aided by the lack of scary-looking regulatory wording and warnings that sit alongside any qualified adviser looking to do the same.

Many over 50's will remember all too well endowments, Equitable Life and PPI; financial scandals that got huge media attention and tarnished the financial services industry. Whilst these were mostly issues with banks and direct sales forces, the advice industry suffered from being tarred with the same brush.