Support is the key for a vital competition

Published on Friday 18 January 2008 20:02

AFTER taking part in last year's Scotsman IFA of the Year competition, I thought it was vital for it to continue and grow.

The competition provides a great services for the readership of The Scotsman's weekend financial pages and a service to the country's IFA community and should be encouraged to go from strength-to-strength.

I therefore set myself the task of lobbying for support from some of the Scottish-based investment houses that I have contact with on a regular basis. In no time at all, we had the support of six Scottish-based investment houses, one independent self-invested personal pension (Sipp) administrator and an independent platform administrator. By September 2007, the competition started to take shape. Many thanks to the new sponsors for their enthusiastic support.

I'm also delighted that the competition has attracted so much interest from the IFA community and wish the ten finalists the best of luck in the months ahead. In the interest of fairness, I agreed with the other judges, at an early stage, that all Scott-Moncrieff Wealth Management consultants would be excluded from the competition – much to the consternation of my colleagues.

I think the case study this year is as topical as it comes – most 40 and 50-somethings are beginning to focus their attention towards retirement planning and with recent legislative changes, Sipps are very much the "flavour of the month" and will be for the foreseeable future.

My involvement in last year's competition, proved to me the tremendous power of the press. On numerous occasions throughout the duration of the competition, clients would comment on the fact that they had read the various commentaries and had watched my progress with great regularity – what fantastic exposure and long may it continue.

I sincerely hope this year's competitors enjoy the experience as much as I did last year.

&#149 Raymond Ellis is executive director and compliance officer, Scott-Moncrieff Wealth Management