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SURVEY ANALYSIS
We regularly conduct surveys of
market participants including financial
advisers, wealth managers, professional
intermediaries, investment providers
and private investors.
The intention is to build a picture of how
the market works – how much business
is being done, which segments of the
market are successful, what activities
drive growth and what obstacles stand
in the way of progress. Ultimately
the results of these surveys help to
identify emerging trends, threats and
opportunities and inform our readers
about the latest developments in the
market.
In this report we have undertaken
three surveys: advisers, providers and
investors. Each survey is short and
takes less than 10 minutes to complete,
with straightforward questions to give
us both quantitative and qualitative
information. We use a mixture of
our own and off-the peg technology
to collect the results and we gather
responses from our own database,
email and affiliate marketing, and
survey panels. All of the results are
kept anonymous and treated in the
strictest confidence. We do not share
the underlying data with third parties or
publish it anywhere.
ADVISER SURVEY
The first survey undertaken as a part of
this report was focused on the advisers.
The survey was sent to our own
database of advisers, forwarded by the
BPR product providers to their database
of advisers and distributed through
our affiliate relationships with adviser
networks and support. We had 167
responses from advisers in total. The
advisers we survey tend to be primarily
independent, whole-of-market advisers
with wealthy clients who are more likely
to use alternative investment solutions.
INTENTION OF THE SURVEY
Our intention was to gain an insight into
how advisers perceive BPR products.
We wanted to know what sort of clients
they thought BPR is suitable for, the
drivers behind their recommendations,
their investment criteria and primary
concerns when choosing a BPR product.
We also wanted to gauge what holds
some advisers back and how the market
can be improved for advisers.
SURVEY ANALYSIS
The survey included up to a maximum
of 21 questions and was ‘dynamic’ -
subsequent questions depend upon
previous answers.
Q
.
Do you recommend BPR to your
clients? (sometimes known as IHT or ITS
planning products)
94% of our sample of 167 advisers
stated they do recommend BPR
products to their clients. This probably
reflects the fact that our sample is
primarily independent, whole-of-market
advisers with wealthy clients who are
more likely to use alternative investment
solutions. Only a small portion did not
recommend BPR while another 2% only
use trusts for IHT and estate planning.
Q
.
What segment of clients do you
recommend BPR to?
Of those advisers that recommend
BPR products, an overwhelming 63%
felt BPR suitable for all clients. This is
an interesting trend that differs from
our research on other tax efficient
alternatives such as EIS - only 5% of
advisers surveyed felt that EIS were
suitable for ordinary retail as well as
high net worth / sophisticated Investors.
This big difference is probably
explained by the response to the
next question though - BPR investing
is very much driven by each client’s
unique circumstances. The most
obvious example of this effect would
be clients in poor health who wanted
the swiftest possible route to IHT
exemption. In this case BPR is the only
solution, and so may well trump any
other considerations, such as whether
the clients qualify as high net worth or
sophisticated investors
Q
.
What % of a client’s total portfolio
would you recommend is placed in a BPR
product ?
When asking advisers what percentage
of a portfolio is generally recommended
the majority believe that it depends
upon the client. Many factors influence
the adviser’s decision, such as the
client’s IHT liability, attitude to risk,
liquidity needs and their health status.
Q
.
Do you recommend...
The BPR product market is broadly split
between products that invest in AIM
listed companies and those that invest
in unlisted companies. Once again, it
seems that the client situation is the
driver - most advisers are not dogmatic
about which products they use. Many
stated that AIM has a place in some
portfolios if the clients have the right
attitude towards risk, the desire to grow
their pot for their beneficiaries and
the ability to use an ISA. Notably, the
advisers that chose to only recommend
one type of product favoured non-AIM
BPR products.
Yes
No
I only use trusts for my
estate planning and IHT
mitigation
94
%
AIM portfolio BPR
producs
Non AIM BPR
products
Both as it depends
on the client
72
%
Both
High Net Worth /
Sophisticated
Ordinary Retail
34
%
63
%
It depends on the client
< 5
%
5-10
%
> 10
%
72
%
13
%
