Conference Programme

• Living with the 50% tax rate
• Loss of personal allowances
• Limited tax relief on pension contributions
• Alternative tax vehicles for retirement planning

Just how robust are the theories and assumptions that underlie much investment planning? Includes panel session chaired by Justin Urquhart Stewart and Peter Robertson , Head of Retail, Vanguard Investments UK

• Is risk profiling as it is currently conducted, with its generally high psychological content, really a meaningful activity?
• Is it really possible to link model portfolios to so-called risk profiles in a way that will meet clients’ genuine needs and expectations?
• Is volatility an adequate measure of investment risk? - What other measures might be appropriate?
• Is modern portfolio theory useful?
• What does asset allocation really mean? - Will it continue to be a more important determinant of performance than fund selection?
• Will passive investments produce adequate returns?
• Is diversification a more effective strategy than hedging?

Panellists:

• Chairman, Justin Urquhart Stewart
• Peter Robertson, Head of Retail, Vanguard Investments UK
• Tony Stenning, Head of UK Retail, BlackRock

The challenge of adapting to adviser charging:

• What adviser charging means
• How to design and present a customer proposition
• Providing perceived on-going value to clients
• Keeping the cash flowing - solving the financial problems of advisor businesses
• Important tax considerations

Panellists:
Chairman, David Shelton, Head of IFA Consultancy Service, Scottish Widows
Carole Nicholls, Principal, Nicholl Stevens, Past PFS President
Lee Robertson, CEO, Investment Quorum
Paula Steele, Managing Director, John Lamb Partnership

Using trusts in pensions and protection planning:

• The need for IHT protection planning in the current environment
• Using discretionary trusts with protection policies for tax efficiency and flexibility
• Multiple trusts, Rysaffe planning and IHT issues/benefits
• By-pass trusts for pensions - planning using integrated and pilot trusts
• Planning to deal with IHT issues on by-pass trusts - minimising periodic and exit charges
• The benefits of using loans to secure the surviving spouse's financial position
• Do’s and Don'ts (ill-health / transfers / Fazakerley problems)

The challenges and opportunities being considered include:

• The current regulatory framework
• The key motivators for transferring
• Compliance considerations (pension switching)
• The role of the financial adviser
• Managing the inherent and control risks

Focusing on business tax planning for 2010 and beyond, the key considerations include:

• Cash extraction strategies
• Providing shares to spouses and income shifting
• Choosing the best trading vehicle (sole trader / partnership / LLP / company)

Chris Gilchrist, Editor, The IRS Report

• Beyond active / passive: quant ETFs can be both
• Risk rating is an essential filter for advisers
• Commodities: for discretionary services only
• Core-satellite uses of ETFs
• Does an ETF-only portfolio make sense?

The power of cashflow modelling is one of the most powerful techniques available to financial planners. The session will explore its benefits for advisers and their clients and how to avoid some of the potential pitfalls:

• The value of cash flow modelling to advisers and clients
• How to work with clients to identify objectives, analyse budgets and agree assumptions
• The use of scenario planning
• The importance of regular reviews in the light of changing circumstances

Business planning provides the essential strategic direction for an organisation and involves a comprehensive assessment of the unique risks facing that business, further compounded by economic instability. This session will focus on:

• Protecting and growing your revenue
• Managing the roles of your staff in an evolving business
• Managing risk in the execution of your proposition
• The difference between planning for a sale and planning for sustainability

This session considers the essential ingredients of running an ethical advisory business:

• The key issues for experienced advisers
• Adding business value and building trust
• Making the tough calls and demonstrating integrity
• What the FSA expect
• Being a leader – and how to keep on top of ethics through CPD
• The wider picture – ethical culture, governance, risk and compliance

This case study will look at the practical alternative retirement funding strategies for high earners and pension contribution strategies to maximise tax relief:

• Anti-forestalling: who’s caught and how?
• Salary exchange and Personal Allowance tapering
• How they all interact
• Pension alternatives – MIPs, bonds and oeics
• Pension alternatives – VCTs and other esoterics

This session will look at how trustees fare under the new tax regime

• Income tax, cgt and iht fundamentals for trustees: what’s the same and what’s changed
• Trustee investment necessities
• Investment tax wrapper choice
• Tax planning to maximise trustee and beneficiary income and growth

Structured products have been much derided but, when used appropriately, can add considerable value:

• What we learnt post credit crunch
• When to consider structures and when to avoid them
• What managers are really hedging with a structured product
• A structured product is generally long or short volatility – how to tell and how to price
• CDS – what do they tell us and how relevant are they
• Crystallising an investment idea into a commercially viable outcome for the client

Ian Thomas, Director, MRM

• Why the changing media landscape is good news for Advisers
• Doing what you say beats saying what you do
• How to make your website interesting, useful and usable
• Three things you must do - that cost you time but not money

Graham Jones, Internet Psychologist

• Having a web presence means being present – you need to take part personally
• It is called ‘social networking’ which means being ‘social’
• The one psychological online response that matters
• How to establish trust online (in just one second)

SPAN THE VOID – “knowledge is your primary asset”

A- Recognising the Knowledge gap
B- Prepare the Knowledge
C- Making the Knowledge work for you
D- Profit from the knowledge

The workshop will be a fast paced interactive session ideal to blow away the possible over indulgence of the night before. We will take the PFS latest educational diagnostic tool and show you how to recognise the gaps in your knowledge and making sure those gaps work for you and your clients.

David Phillpotts
Head of Access Contact Centre
Sponsored by AEGON
Located in Social Sciences 0.20

Building a more efficient practice – how to power your proposition into a post RDR world   

John Porteous
Head of Distribution, Macquarie Banking & Financial Services Group (UK)
Sponsored by Macquarie

• Selecting appropriate tax wrappers for long term financial planning strategies
• The evolving criteria for provider selection
• How to embed platforms seamlessly into your business
• Demonstrate the value rather than cost of efficiency

Located in Social Sciences 0.21

Ethical and Fair Outcomes - A New Approach to Regulation?

Mike Kennedy
Compliance Auditor, Threesixty Services
Sponsored by Threesixty

* Ethics and culture – the role of the regulator and firms;
* A new focus on “outcomes focused” regulation
* What firms can do to operate effectively under this new approach

Located in Social Sciences 0.19

Trustee or not Trustee - that is the question

Business Development Manager (Pensions), Prudential
Sponsored by Prudential

*The role of the modern trustee; *Their duties and powers; *TPR requirements

Located in Social Sciences 0.18

Diversification can be a 'Free Lunch'

Darren Ripton
Head of Investment Process, Standard Life
Sponsored by Standard Life

* The control of short term portfolio volatility and the reation of long term returns

Located in Social Sciences 0.13

The power of enforcement

Mark Smith
Compliance consultancy manager
Sponsored by Zurich

Located in Social Sciences 0.11

This session takes a detailed look at Investment Trusts, particularly:

• What makes investment trusts different from open-ended funds
• The advantages & disadvantages of the closed-ended structure
• And the asset classes that suit it best
• How an awareness of discounts can be used to generate out-performance
• Why Advisers should recommend investment trusts to their clients

A close look at the pressures faced by final salary pension schemes in 2010 and the implications on transfers:

• Changes to transfer valuations
• The threat to transitional protection
• Employer inducements
• The impact of the PPF on advice
• When to reduce a transfer value

When the regulator comes knocking there are some key do’s and don’ts to managing the relationship:

• Addressing FSA's key concerns
• FSA's 2010 agenda for intermediaries
• What to do (and not to do) when dealing with FSA
• What happens if FSA has concerns - and how you can manage them

This case study session will look at the practical tools available to Advisers when considering inheritance tax planning solutions for clients, including:

• The transferable nil rate band: dos and don'ts
• Wills: why they are still central to IHT planning
• Tax planning with the family home
• Lifetime gifts: capital versus income

In this session David will discuss how building the right team will support and strengthen your move to a full fee-based advisory practice:

• Focusing on profit, not turnover
• Building a 'Sale-able' practice
• Developing your team
• Salary, remuneration and reward programmes that really work

• The key differences between SSAS and SIPP
• The continuing relevance of SSAS in the post A-Day world
• When a SSAS can be a better choice than SIPP
• Case studies and examples of SSAS in action.
• What makes a good SSAS provider.
• The implications of their unregulated status

In this session Graham shares some useful insights into the practical considerations for Advisory firms in designing and implementing a high tech efficient back office:

• The end-to-end solution - from initial meeting through implementation to client review
• Making it achievable
• Pitfalls and challenges
• The benefits for Clients, Advisers & Firms

A must attend session as three leading Advisers host a panel session in which they will share the tips that led to their success and give you the benefit of their vast experience

Pannelists:
Sheriar Bradbury, Managing Director, Bradbury Hamilton
Brian Steeples, Managing Director, Turris Partnership, Past PFS President
Joel Adams, Joint CEO, LIFT-Financial

• NEST charges - a change of direction
• How many employees will opt out
• Will master trusts prove popular
• The importance of investment fund choice
• Do staff appreciate a quality pension
• National insurance - a tax on jobs but not on pensions

• Rampant symbolism - why people will tell you more about their sex life than their financial dreams
• Tell me what you want, what you really really want - the value of 'personnel' investment
• Women buy shoes, men buy gadgets, neither buy pensions
• Logic - '… what is it good for?'
• Why SMART goals aren't smart enough
• Coach, train or push

This business transiton case study will focus on the practical tools for building value in a post-RDR world, especially:

• Drivers of business value
• Changes to value post RDR
• Preparing to acquire or be acquired
• Valuations and deal structures
• Key legal issues