Why financial advice is invaluable
Financial advice is the heart of our business. It offers reassurance and guidance amid the noise of difficult financial decisions. It helps you to stay on track in making your money work harder for you.
Yet it is about more than simply aiming to achieve better investment returns. To be its most effective and valuable, it is an ongoing relationship. However it’s important to note that as the value of investments can rise and fall, positive returns are more likely if you invest for the long term, but this is not guaranteed and you could get back less than you invest.
This relationship can offer continuity, a deeper understanding of your goals and objectives, and peace of mind for your financial future.
The power of advice
SJP recently commissioned a national survey to delve into the sentiment of the nation when it comes to the subject of financial advice. The results of these Real Life Advice Reports revealed a number of interest stats on when, how and why people lean into the support of financial planning experts and the value they can add.
The results:
- 95% of people receiving ongoing financial advice say it helps them reach and stay on track with their goals.
- Advised individuals are twice as likely to feel optimistic about the future (54% advised vs 30% non-advised).
- Nearly a quarter (23%) of adults made changes to their finances during Budget speculation – with one in five (20%) now regretting doing so.
- Those receiving ongoing financial advice are more than twice as likely to have a plan in place with a clear purpose, life goals, timeline (74% advised vs 34% not advised).
The benefit of ongoing personal advice
With ongoing advice, we can review your financial plan and help you:
• Plan for what matters – whether that’s a comfortable retirement, helping family, or protecting yourself from the unexpected.
• Make more of your money – by matching your investments to what you want to achieve.
• Keep more of what you earn – by making full use of tax advantages.
• Stay on track – when markets wobble, having someone to remind you why you’re investing and to stop you making knee-jerk decisions.
One-to-one financial advice
Arrange a no-obligation financial review with one of our expert financial advisers. Either:
- Complete the form or
- Book a convenient time here
The Real Life Advice Reports 2026 was commissioned by St. James’s Place and the research was carried out by Opinium on their behalf.
On behalf of St. James’s Place Opinium surveyed 8,000 UK adults nationwide between 22 July and 5 August 2025. Quotas and post-weighting were applied to the sample to make the dataset representative of the UK adult population.
Post-budget on 26 November 2025: Opinium surveyed a further 2,050 UK adults between 3 and 5 December 2025. Quotas and post-weighting were applied to the sample to make the dataset politically and nationally representative.