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UnCANNed – Nick’s Pick of the News

UnCANNed is a regular but light-hearted feature brought to you from Nick Cann, CEO, at the IFP. Well known for his forthright views and straight talking, UnCANNed is Nick’s new weekly update bringing you his thoughts on a topical Financial Planning issue in true Nick Cann style.

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Blog #48 - Size is Important - 15/01/2010

Once again, the weather has dominated our lives this week. It is really funny to listen to the manly conversations that exist around the depth of snow.  Oh we have 6” with us how much do you have. Oh we have at least 9” here as though any man knows how much this is anyway.  A new dimension has been added this year as people start talking in centimetres. Oh we have 20 cm here which sounds like you will have to be off work for several months with the severity of it all. Some who are trying to take time off work tend to confuse the two as somebody on the train managed quite successfully last week. He was explaining that with the 9 cm that he had, it would be difficult to perform normally. I am not surprised!

Gritting and the amount of salt is also an issue as Tesco once again sells out and cat litter reaches a new premium. Having been in London this week, it amazes me that a light covering here where there is normally no snow causes disruption and far too much air time on the news. I was walking down one pavement yesterday which had a hint of snow but more grit than I had seen in the whole of Chepstow. There are definitely different standards in place!

Non drinking going well although there has been too much snow to get to the gymn yet! People ask me whether I have noticed any difference without the drink. Not really is the answer although I am now up to about 10 pints of water a night which means that I am up half the night going to the toilet. When I have drunk lager and wine all night, I just crash out in a coma and wake up when the alarm goes off.

The IFP Board met for the first time on Tuesday and we were very grateful to Russells for providing us with excellent facilities for the day. The strategy for 2010 has now been signed off and the team are already working on delivering some more exceptional results this year. The growth in membership will be key to this strategy and I look forward to the support from existing members and supporters to help us achieve this particular goal. A 25% increase is a pretty daunting figure but one that is definitely achievable given the proposals set out in the latest consultation paper on the retail distribution review.

Really good round table session with Kevin O’Donnell from Portfolio Publishing and Macquarie on Wednesday. We were joined by some of the leaders in the Financial Planning community. The outcome of this will be in the March edition of the Financial Planner magazine. One of the key issues discussed was the ability for firms to scale Financial Planning businesses. This is a fascinating area and the next few years are crucial as we see whether this is achievable. The delegates present were convinced that this was the case but specific propositions and strong leadership are definitely required.

I was disappointed not to be at the Social Networking conference that was held this week. It was an interesting event. Nobody was actually in the auditorium because everybody was sitting in their rooms following the proceedings via their I-Phones, blackberries and laptops. It was however an excellent event.

It was good to catch up with so many members at the NMA conference and awards dinner yesterday. Most winners were IFP members which was a fantastic achievement and 2 board members recognised with Barry Horner and Becky Taylor receiving regional awards. An interesting conference with much to ponder. The NMA team worked really hard to put on an excellent event which I am sure that we will all read about for weeks to come.

On the train back from London and looking forward to a relaxing weekend which will take in a trip to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Hope that you all have a good one and look forward to next week when I shall be another year older and definitely the wrong side of 30.

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