Educational Insights you can use today!

This page is for financial planners, advisers and coaches.

Here you’ll find a list of consumer-facing educational Insights you can white label and use in your business today.

Do you need the best quality content?

I know you only want to share top-quality content with your clients, prospects, and professional introducers.

That’s why I wrote this guide with six (A to F) tests to help you choose a great content creator or supplier.

For now, here’s how I see the first three of those tests:

My Financial Planner friends tell me they love these ABC tests.

They’re certainly easy to remember, but they’re extremely hard tests to pass.

It takes enormous effort to create consumer-facing content that’s 100% Accurate, Balanced, and Compelling.

However, this is the quality YOU need, so:

1. Every Insight I supply is reviewed by at least two leading financial planners – one of whom used to mark exams for the Institute of Financial Planning.
2. My Money Mindset pieces are checked by an acclaimed Doctor of Psychology with 20 years of clinical experience.
3. All my content is reviewed by a communications specialist, who takes a non-expert consumer perspective. (A hard task master who ensures every sentence is clear and jargon-free!)

Is all this effort worth it?

You must decide after reading some of my Insights or my testimonials here.

What else do you need to know?

1. Do you know about the 25 benefits of education first marketing – to you, your team and your clients?
2. Do you know how much time and money you can save on a great Insight library – if you choose a good supplier?
3. Do you know how to rate the services of any content creator or supplier you’re thinking of using?

Insights designed to help YOU help your clients

The consumer-facing Insights I offer are designed to encourage your potential clients to:

• Learn about the value of proper financial planning.
• Learn how to approach the significant money questions in their lives.
• Share the ideas with their family and friends.
• Explore the Psychological traps around managing their money.

Research into financial literacy and anxiety about money shows that most adults (in most countries) need this help.

So, I design Insights that help consumers to:

1. Feel more control around money questions.
2. Understand and engage in the process of financial planning.
3. Know when they might need help from a professional.

Why do our money skills matter?

The crazy thing about educational marketing is that we’ve known why this works since the 1970s.

It was the acclaimed Psychologist Albert Bandura who revealed the fact that people engage more in activities where they feel they have some ability.

We don’t accept invitations to play competitive Golf (or tennis) if we’ve never held a Golf racquet 😉

The same applies to personal finance.

Most people don’t have a clue how to start a financial plan, so they don’t engage in the process.

And this is one of many reasons we don’t talk about money.

Bandura and other Psychologists found that when we don’t feel skilled enough, we focus more on our failings.

If we have no confidence, we avoid those complex tasks.

On the other hand, as we become more capable, we:

• Develop more interest in those activities and commit more strongly to them.
• Recover quickly from setbacks, and re-frame our problems as tasks to be mastered.

So, I design Insights to reduce the need for people to find that elusive thing called motivation. 

Social Scientist and author of ‘Tiny Habits’, Dr B.J. Fogg, illustrates this beautifully here

How’s your marketing motivation?

Do you need to engage more people in financial planning?

I guess the answer depends on whether you have all the work you want today and how your pipeline looks.

Of course, the world never stands still.

And the advice/guidance landscape is about to change significantly for the first time in decades – with new lower-cost services arriving from the FCA’s Advice Guidance Boundary Review.

‘Targeted Support’ will present both threats and opportunities to various advice firms, depending on the complexity of the advice services offered.

Of course, we can’t be sure how consumers will react, but initially, there can only be NEW flows of consumers into these NEW services.

While in the longer term, there’ll be two-way flows across all three boundaries in that picture, and continued circular flows of clients between advisers.

Remember, there are opportunities for YOU to explain the limitations of targeted support to your clients and prospects.

Or perhaps you’ll choose to add that service alongside your full advice option?

All we know is that ignoring this significant regulatory development will be a bad idea.

And the winners, as always, will be those with strong propositions and compelling communications.

How old is the problem the FCA is trying to fix?

It’s sobering to reflect on the effectiveness of the financial planning sector’s communications.

After all, Targeted support is being launched to solve a decades-old advice gap that has worsened over time.

We all know the reasons.

They include excessive advice compliance regulations and the time it takes to study and advise on nonsensical and ever-changing tax rules.

The result, however, is that c. 93% of the adult population either cannot access (or don’t want/search for) regulated advice.

Here’s the evidence on the second point.

What does it show?

The hard truth is that while many financial planners do great work every day, the sector has failed (for 20+ years) to engage consumers in this service. 

And this is the most valuable financial service there is! 

FYI: The blue line is also at the bottom of that chart if you change the search to ‘Financial Advice’ or ‘Financial Coaching’ or restrict the data to the UK.

More worryingly, research (from Schroders UK and Cerulli US) shows that up to 70% of inheritors (adult children and spouses) to wealthy advised clients plan to leave the adviser when the wealth holder dies!

So, we have enormous awareness and trust issues to solve here:

1. Most people don’t know that financial planning is a service!
2. More than 90% of UK adults don’t take advice from a qualified adviser.
3. Around 60% of the families of advised people are unhappy with their parents’ / spouse’s adviser.

What educational gaps do you want to fill?

By offering brilliant (ABC) Insights, you showcase your helpfulness (and kindness) to your clients and their families and friends – and other prospects.

So, more of those people will contact YOU when they need guidance.

That’s why all of my consumer-facing Insights are designed to help you open people’s eyes to the value of YOUR services.

And here’s an example – on the classic consumer question of:

‘Should I pay for advice, and, if so, what’s a fair price?’ 

Various Chartered Financial planners tell me this perfectly answers that question.

Is your content creator/supplier good enough for YOU?

If you plan to use (or continue using) a content service, you must decide if that service is good enough for your business.

And this Insight on six ways to rate a content creator is designed to help you with that.

For now, those tests are summarised here.

And here’s a question:

How much of the content issued by all financial service firms do you (and your clients) believe passes the first four of those tests?

Most people give a low percentage answer to that question.

And the number is lowest among those who’ve worked in financial services!

So, what can we do to change this?

Do YOU really need more short posts?

Soaking your audience with daily short posts does not build engagement.

The evidence is clear that longer form content is far more effective, as I outlined in that guid on ‘How to rate a content creator’

Have a read of that when you have a moment.

The facts surprise most advisers.

Of course, you need both short and long form content for effective education-first marketing.

You start with short outreach posts for two reasons:

1. They demand very little time from prospective clients who don’t yet know you.
2. They flag new or refreshed ideas to those who do know (and hopefully love!) your work.

However, you can’t stop with an ‘attention grabber’ post.

That’s like inviting people on a road to nowhere.

So, your short posts must attract and persuade some of your readers to stay with you.

To click and follow the path you offer to the more complete story on your website.

That’s where they’ll gain more value from your Insights, and that’s where they’ll become more likely to request your advice.

It’s not rocket science, and it’s not new.

Here’s the idea in a picture.

Offering deep dive content shows your commitment to helping people make progress on their financial life journey:

It is, of course, true that some people (some of the time) browse social media channels for entertainment or to see what fellow professionals are talking about.

But very few of those people are potential clients of yours – at those times.

In marketing terms, we’d say that these people have no intent to buy. 

I assume you want to attract readers (or video consumers) who are:

• Actively considering a financial planning challenge of their own.
• Or, for professional connections, considering the various financial challenges for their clients.

These people value long-form Insights because they offer more complete solution ideas.

Can content creators save you money and stress?

Yes, absolutely, but only if they’re capable of creating content that passes those A to F tests.

If not, they’ll add to your content marketing headaches – and significantly so, if they’re poor writers or don’t understand financial planning concepts in depth.

This bar chart shows the range of costs you face to acquire a sound library of content.

In short, it shows how I could save you between 50% and 98% compared to the cost of creating your content in-house.

You need to decide what matters most to you.

Is it the content uniqueness, cost or speed to market – or a mix of those things?

Either way, I can help you find the excellent quality educational content you need at a highly competitive price.

So, let’s talk if you’d like help in working this out.

You can book directly into my diary here.

And, in the meantime, this table will help you consider your options.

 Note also that with my licensed content options, you have no ongoing costs for content maintenance.

Updates are supplied for free!

So, I’d urge you to consider using some licensed content for part of your educational library.

You can access these Insights at extremely low cost – for the life of your business – today!

What Insights could you white-label today?

Just click on any image below to read that Insight – or series of Insights:

More money mindset Insights – coming Soon

Most people I speak to are fascinated by the Psychology of managing and investing money.

So, you may be interested in the Insights I’m writing now, which are being checked by a Doctor of Psychology with 20 years of clinical experience.

The first title, ‘How many ways are you unique?’ is now available.

And I’m planning to offer these further titles for this NEW Money Mindset series – along with others on financial planning – over the next year:

1. How do we form our attitudes to money – and how can we change attitudes that don’t serve us well?
2. How can we boost our happiness – and how can financial planning help?
3. Why do most people worry about money – and what can we do to worry less?
4. How could you achieve more of what you care most about?
5. Why do we get stuck on our goals – and how can we get unstuck?
6. What are behavioural biases – and how might they mess up our money decisions?

Would you like to influence the money Insights I create?

If you’d like to explore (and influence) many more of the Insights I’m planning, let’s talk.

You can book directly into my diary here

I’d love to learn more about your business and help you with your content marketing where I can.

Want more bang for your marketing bucks?

Whether you choose my custom-made or ready-made services, you’ll get educational Insights that are proven to help firms attract and engage more clients.

My aim is simple.

To help you build (or maintain) your reputation as a go-to place for consumers to find answers to the vital money questions.

What could this mean for your business?

That depends on your current reputation as a Money Insight provider for consumers.

What I know is that I can help you boost that reputation or reduce your marketing costs  – or both.

So, this is about helping you move from your current location (wherever that is) to Zones 5 or 6 on this map.

Have you heard about my NEW minimal cost option?

If you’re happy to use licensed content, my NEW All Insights Pass is likely to be my best value service for you – to begin with.

This pass (which launches soon) will work like a content rental service – giving you immediate digital access and rights to use all of my current and future Insights for a low monthly payment.

From the launch date for a limited period, you’ll be able to subscribe to the All Insights Pass for just £80 per month.

The price for future new subscribers will rise by 50% or more over the coming year, as the library grows.

However, the price you secure when you subscribe will:

• Never go up in real (inflation-adjusted) terms.
• Won’t rise by a penny until January 2031.

So, you have plenty of time to try out the content with your audiences – at a fixed price.

You just need to get your skates on – if you’d like to grab this service at its lowest ever price.

It won’t ever be cheaper than £80/m per firm – and it will cost a lot more for new subscribers in the future.

Interested in building a better insight library?

You could also sign up for my Educators Newsletter here for updates on my services and the NEW content I add to my shop over time.

And if you’re interested in my NEW low cost content rental service, e-mail me at hello@paulclaireaux.com with subject line ‘All Insights Pass’.

That way, I can tell you when the (£80/m) launch offer goes live.

Alternatively, you can simply book a meeting to explore your options for building a great library of Insights or enhancing the one you have.

You can book directly into my diary here.

Thanks for dropping in.