A highly valued client of Lifetime sent us a copy of The Economist’s ‘Fund Management’ comment piece, which was published at the weekend.

The Economist reported: “The first stock market index fund was created more than 40 years ago, in 1973.

“Two years later Jack Bogle of Vanguard launched the first index fund for retail investors.

“It was dismissed at the time as a folly, but the fund, which started with $11m in assets, now runs $166 billion, on which the annual costs paid by investors are less than one-fifth of a percentage point.

“That compares with the 1-2 points a year that investors can pay for active fund management, where the experts try to beat the index.

“Thankfully the industry is changing. It is slowly being commoditised, like others before it. PwC, an accountancy and consultancy firm, thinks the market share of tracker funds will double by 2020.”

One of the reasons why there is a change is because of the Retail Distribution Review, which saw financial advisers being paid a fee by their clients, rather than taking a commission from the fund provider.

Here at Lifetime we have all the tools to give effective, fee-based advice to our clients, including specialist advisers in all aspects of finance.

Most importantly, that advice enhances our clients’ ability to achieve their life plans and, if required, helps clients live the life they want.

The only way to make sure of this is to understand what that life looks like for each individual client.