Understanding the emotional influences of financial adviceseeking behaviour and the value of addressing them

The wealth management industry is an important part of
the UK economy. In 2018 over £942 billion of financial
wealth (almost 45% of UK GDP) was managed by UK
private banks, execution-only brokers and wealth and
investment management firms (PIMFA, 2019), and over
£4.4bn revenue was generated from retail investment
business by regulated intermediary activities (FCA, 2018a).
The proposed studies will contribute additional insight to
the traditional economic view of the
role of financial advice. It will examine the emotional
influences of financial advice-seeking
behaviour and quantify the value of these non-economic
aspects.
The research will measure the non-economic value
delivered by different advice interaction
models, e.g., face to face and robo-advice as well as how
these vary depending on gender.
The research will contribute to the financial advice
literature by drawing further on social
psychology and psychoanalytic theories for different advice
interaction models. It will also
have impacts for the financial market and industry
stakeholders, particularly considering rapid
technological and social developments within the financial
services industry.
The first of the three proposed studies is supported by data
for which access has already been negotiated.