Progress over perfection: Targeted support has huge upsides

The Financial Conduct Authority's Advice Guidance Boundary Review discussion paper sets the grounds for a potentially seismic shift in the level and nature of financial support available to the mass market. The last big shift was the Retail Distribution Review (RDR), which significantly reduced the appetite of financial services firms to provide these services to the mass market. The result, mainly for savers with smaller pots to invest, has been characterised as an ‘advice gap' but has really become a savings and investments crisis – one that impacts millions. While RDR undeniably ra...