Independent vs restricted advice: What the public really thinks

Can somebody chained to a fence be said to be free? According to the chief executive of one national IFA, this is exactly what some advisory businesses are claiming. 2plan Wealth Management's Chris Smallwood last week called on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to crack down on what he said was "advice middle ground". The emergence of terms such as 'restricted universal' or 'restricted whole of market' to describe advisory services are misleading and should be banned, he said. Is Smallwood right? We asked a small sample of people if they knew the difference between independent ...