Busting financial jargon

“Impressions… is that the right word?”

What’s in a name?

If we call Cathi and Jo by any other names I’m sure they would smell as sweet…?!

Ok, ok, enough high-brow Shakespeare but this episode is certainly one to get you thinking, particularly about whether the finance industry as a whole, with its jargon and serious-looking colours, confusing acronyms and stock images, is off-putting to its audience before they even look into financial advice.

Jo points out that the Help-to-Buy ISA was a huge success, and believes that’s down to its name being self-explanatory – and, more importantly, helpful. So, if other industry products used this approach, would lots more of us be flocking to see a Financial Adviser?

The answer is probably yes. In fact, the episode explores the fact that negative connotations exist that we may or may not realise put us off talking to a financial adviser.

Speaking of which, advisers are trying to change this, beginning with changing their job titles. So, we’re starting to see more financial ‘planners’, and even ‘life planners’ in some cases, offering ‘financial well-being’ services.

Our lovely guest Abbie Knight, who has a passion for helping businesses grow, shares her thoughts on financial career paths within the UK vs Australia, flying the flag for financial services and 50 shades of blue!

In between outbursts of singing (Janet Jackson from Cathi and Michael Jackson form Jo – these ladies are certainly in sync!), listeners will come to understand that renaming and rebranding other key parts of the industry just isn’t that simple. In fact, it’s almost as impossible as the question of “how to correctly pronounce ‘book’”, right Jo?!

The Verve Group, creators of That Mint Podcast, are doing their bit though and often get compliments on their marketing and messages going against the grain. Cathi credits this to a marketing team who don’t have finance industry backgrounds (thanks, Cathi!). And we hear from the team’s Naomi Graham who sheds some more light on how the industry could work harder to translate its benefits to Joe Bloggs. She and Cathi wonder in fact if you could explain a pension to a 6 year old…

Others in the industry are doing their bit by ensuring conversations with clients paint a bigger picture, pinpointing life goals and using financial advice as a faster route to these. So, if you want to own the world’s largest sticker book collection (listen and all will become clear!) perhaps an ISA would be useful to you after all.

Another enjoyable episode that removes barriers – and with talk inevitably turning to food.

We wondered why the office was suddenly overflowing with Werther’s…