Guardian ups offering and targets young blood

Addressing a media briefing yesterday, Guardian Advice head Simon Harris said the group was well on track to surpass its growth target of 160 advisers by June 2013 by at least 20 per cent.

The average age of advisers in the group has also dropped from 58 to 49 in the two years to December 2012 as retiring advisers have been succeeded by younger advisers benefiting from a revamped succession strategy.

Guardian Advice has tied its buyer of last resort (BOLR) plans in with its succession planning and a new equity partnering strategy so that younger advisers are able to get a foot hold to buy into larger businesses.

As well as assistance with physical office space, new advisers can also access other benefits such as mentoring and a range of back office services, administrative services such as free statements of advice and outsourced functions, including book-keeping, reception and virtual offices, Mr Harris said.

Mr Harris said the group was interested in partnering with “entrepreneurial growth-orientated advisers who want to run their business their way”.

“We’re not prescriptive about which life companies [advisers] use; we’ve got a really broad APL (approved product list) of life companies but within that broad APL network we also have a preferred partner network,” he said.