Over a third (36%) of discretionary fund managers (DFMs) described themselves as “fans” of investment trusts, and prefer them to other types of investment.

This is according to the Association of Investment Companies (AIC) and Research in Finance.

The figure has risen by 2%, from 34% last year.

Over 30% of DFMs are expecting to write more investment trust business, with attractive discounts being the top reason (82%).

Other reasons for DFMs increasing investment trust business was strong performance of certain trusts (40%), increasing exposure to specialist assets (38%) and a more favourable view of investment trusts generally (38%).

AIC research director Nick Britton said: “At a time when centralised investment propositions are exerting more of a stranglehold on wealth managers’ investment decisions, it’s encouraging to see that many individuals are able to go off buy list in pursuit of attractive opportunities for their clients.

“Wide discounts are still by far the main reason that wealth managers are looking to increase their exposure to trusts, but this year we have seen that factor diminish in importance and other traditional advantages come to the fore, such as strong performance and access to alternative assets.”

Research in Finance CEO Toby Finden-Crofts added: “It is clear centralised buy lists are used extensively by wealth managers and discretionary fund managers. But to take advantage of the opportunity investment trusts offer, investors are increasingly using funds which sit outside of the buy lists.

“Our research shows that it’s not only the structural benefits of the products that are appealing but the access to some interesting and less accessible markets, such as private equity, infrastructure and renewables.”

In order to obtain these results, Research in Finance surveyed 157 DFMs. The research is funded by a consortium of asset managers and the AIC.

Recently, the Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority announced cost disclosure requirements for investment trusts will be temporarily banned.

This announcement came after years of investment companies calling for change. These rules were inherited by the European Union (EU) and made it appear that investment trusts were more costly to put money into than they were.

The Treasury said it will lay out legislation to provide the FCA with the appropriate powers to deliver reform – the new Consumer Composite Investments (CCI) regime.

It said the new CCI regime will deliver more tailored and flexible rules to “address concerns across industry with current disclosure requirements, including for costs”.

The UK’s new retail disclosure regime is expected to be in place in the first half of 2025, subject to Parliamentary approval and following a consultation from the FCA.

The FCA intends to consult on proposed rules for the CCI regime this Autumn.

It may be surprising, but it appears more people have considered becoming a senior paraplanner than a financial adviser.

Research from recruitment platform Indeed, with the St. James’s Place (SJP) Financial Adviser Academy, found just 4% of respondents had considered becoming a financial adviser, while 9% had considered becoming a senior paraplanner.

The research looked at attitudes towards careers among over 4,000 UK workers, highlighting a good salary, work/life balance and the opportunity to work from home as factors that create the ideal role.

This data was combined with job searches to produce a list of 10 of the best careers people have never considered. Senior paraplanner was second on the list, while financial adviser was fourth.

Broad appeal

This may go against the grain of expectations, as you would think advisers would have a higher profile among the general public as they are more client facing.

However, Gee Foottit, senior manager, partnerships, at the SJP Academy, points out we cannot draw conclusions about the level of public awareness for either role, as the research only shows whether respondents had considered these careers for themselves.

Foottit acknowledges the common perception is that advisers have the dominant career but people also have out-of-date perceptions of advisers as male economics graduates in suits who work in the City.

“Women make fantastic financial advisers,” she says. “The skills required can be more difficult to train people in – things like emotional intelligence, being inquisitive and feeling at ease to ask questions.”

Foottit says that while men – who outnumber women as advisers 80/20 – can certainly have these attributes, more women tend to already possess them.

It is widely accepted paraplanning has more of an equal gender split and commentators suggest this is because there are elements that appeal to everyone.

People whose main focus is to drive their career forward have pathways to follow, perhaps moving into financial advice.

Versatility and flexibility

The versatility of paraplanning also enables people to flexibly juggle work with the demands of bringing up children, while still having job satisfaction and options to progress in the future, when their families are more self-sufficient.

Although being an adviser also offers many of these benefits, there is a feeling the advice role is more defined, while paraplanning can be moulded around the needs of businesses and individuals.

Liam Chapman-Lyes, senior paraplanner at Succession Wealth, believes this is why the gender split is more balanced in paraplanning relative to advice.

“Paraplanners have worked from home since Covid – technology has opened up the role across the whole country rather than locally. And you don’t have to worry about client calls and working out of hours,” he says.

“You can do your hours, switch off at the end of the day and it’s less stressful.”

That is not to say men do not appreciate the flexibility and versatility that paraplanning offers. Chapman-Lyes has spent the last seven years building a career in paraplanning.

At Succession Wealth, there are different roles within paraplanning, such as associate paraplanner and senior paraplanner. This enables the firm’s paraplanners to occupy ‘light advice roles’ where they combine technical work behind the scenes with client engagement or cashflow planning.

“Paraplanning didn’t really exist 20 years ago but it has developed so much in the last 10 years. Now there are pathways for qualifying as a financial planner or staying in a paraplanner role – you can choose,” says Chapman-Lyes.

“I have bit of client contact – I speak to clients over email, assist on drafting the advice and cashflow modelling – but there’s lots of scope to do more.”

A growing profession

While hosting the Personal Finance Society’s (PFS) Purely Paraplanning Conference in April, Altus Consulting platforms consulting director Amira Norris was struck by the realisation that the paraplanning community is ‘growing and thriving’.

“Once seen as a stop gap to becoming an adviser or a way to promote administrators, paraplanning has evolved over the last decade or so to become a respected and valued career in its own right,” she says.

“The main institutes now all recognise paraplanning as a career path, with dedicated qualifications pathways and initiatives, such as the PFS Paraplanning Panel and the CISI paraplanner award.

“The role of a paraplanner has become invaluable to advice businesses, as the need to keep up with the regulatory and technical complexity of financial planning increases,” she says.

“We are also seeing offshoots of specialisations in areas such as cashflow planning, complex pension reviews and intergenerational wealth expertise.”