Board Digest - July 2025

The Strategy Day itself was an opportunity for open, collaborative and genuinely exciting discussion about the future direction of the PFS. We began by exploring our purpose, values, and strategic ambition. We reaffirmed that the PFS is fundamentally a professional body, not just a membership organisation, and we agreed that our current vision and mission statements need updating to better reflect our strategic identity and commitment to balancing public interest with member support. We also identified seven areas for which we want the PFS to be recognised in future:

1.      Championing the profession and its societal contribution

2.      Unquestionable member value and tailored support

3.      Trust and ethics, so we’re a trusted ally

4.      Leadership and influence, shaping policy and public perception

5.      Inclusivity and reach, broadening our community beyond financial advice

6.      Future-ready, helping our members stay ahead of change

7.      Global ambition, with an intent to explore international relevance

We also examined our external environment through SWOT and PESTLE analyses. Our discussions highlighted a desire to broaden our role beyond qualifications, to support our members with the growth, management and sale their businesses, for example. We additionally reflected on the value of our assets and how we might work with partners to advance our strategic ambitions in the UK and internationally.

Our strategic priorities were another area of focus. We discussed building on the momentum generated by the Pathway to the Profession launch through regular communication of our achievements – this new Board Digest being an example in point. We think doing more to elevate our messaging at roadshows and involving our Power Panel and Paraplanning Panel could also be effective tools to build greater member engagement. We also had an important conversation about the creation of a leadership role to represent the PFS externally and we hope to be able to say more about this at our AGM in September.

During the afternoon we reflected on the variety of risks facing the profession. These include  challenges around engaging new talent, market disruption, technological change, and financial exposure. We’ll be organising a future risk workshop to explore these in greater depth.

The day concluded with our personal reflections on the positive tone, shared sense of purpose, and collective optimism for the future. We also acknowledged with great sadness Trevor Edwards’ final meeting as a PFS Board member, as he returns to the Caribbean with his family. He has served the PFS and our members with great distinction for many years and we will miss him greatly.

Our next Board meeting is on 11 September, and our AGM is in Birmingham on 25 September. We will be sending out our formal notice and items of business in the first week of September. I hope to see you there.