Nelson believes that there is a “shared responsibility for the whole sector to put in place the processes and frameworks that allow equal access to people of all circumstances and backgrounds, and appropriate safeguards and protections for those who are vulnerable.”
The advantages, he feels, are enormous. “The advice sector has never been in a better place for focusing on things like client goals, trust, relationships and wellbeing, with products and services secondary to the discussion.
"That can only be a good thing for forming trusted relationships with people.”
For the PFS's Richards, it is good for the individual adviser too: “The financial adviser who sympathetically guides (a client going through a situation of vulnerability) through to other side is likely to have a loyal client for life.”
Clearly, openness about lived experience of vulnerability is an asset to the individual and to the industry, winning client loyalty and reputational trust.
As more and more evidence comes to light of the value to businesses of diversity in thinking and experience, lived experience of vulnerability becomes a significant component in the conversation around what makes business successful.
Anita Boniface is a freelance journalist
