If you have ever sat in front of a wealth manager and watched their eyes light up as they describe their process, you will know what I mean when I say this industry loves a good story.
Investment committees.
Quarterly reports.
Risk targeted models.
Market insight days.
A manager explaining why they increased UK equities from 4 percent to 4.5 percent.
It all sounds very impressive.
But at some point along the way, something strange happened.
The industry became obsessed with the journey, while clients continued to care mainly about the outcomes.
Ask any sensible person in their fifties or sixties what they want from their money and you hear the same themes:
They want peace of mind.
They want clarity.
They want the highest chance of retiring comfortably.
They want to avoid big mistakes.
They want to feel safe, not stressed.
Not one client has ever said to me:
“Nic, what I am really hoping for is an investment committee with very attractive minutes.”
Yet this is exactly what the industry spends most of its time promoting.
Glossy presentations.
Smoother charts.
Quarterly meetings.
Model portfolio services with layers of complexity.
Managers talking about tactical positioning.
Slides showing what might have happened if you had invested in 1997.
The message is clear:
“Trust our process. The process is the real value.”
And this is where the problem lies.
A beautiful process does not guarantee a better outcome.
In fact, most evidence shows it often does not.
Most clients assume the industry has one job:
helping them get the best long term outcomes possible.
But much of the industry is now structured around something different:
scalability
regulation
business efficiency
adviser convenience
fee collection
distribution of investment products
Model portfolio services (MPS) are a perfect example.
They are tidy, efficient, centralised and great for advisers trying to scale.
But are they always better for clients?
Not necessarily.
It is much easier to sell:
“We have a sophisticated investment journey”
than
“We use a simple, low cost, evidence based approach that quietly outperforms most complex solutions over decades.”
One sounds clever.
The other actually delivers.
Here is the honest question nobody asks.
Would any investor say:
“I will happily give up part of my long term return so that my portfolio looks smoother in a quarterly review”?
Of course not.
But that is exactly what happens when layers of costs, complexity and committees are added to something that could have been simple and effective.
The journey should be simple.
The outcomes should be compelling.
If you find yourself being sold an investment process rather than an investment outcome, it is worth pausing.
There is nothing wrong with a well organised journey.
But it should never come at the cost of what actually matters to you and your family.
Instead of asking:
“What is your investment process?”
Try asking:
“How does this approach increase the probability that I will achieve the outcomes I care about?”
If the answer is not clear, the process may be more about the adviser than about you.
In my experience, the people who do best financially over the long term are the ones who understand what matters and ignore what does not.
They focus on outcomes, not stories.
They keep things simple, not theatrical.
And they choose advisers who measure success by the client’s life, not by the elegance of a quarterly report.
Nic Round is a Chartered Financial Planner and Chartered Wealth Manager, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.