Your First Piece Of Financial Advice Is Pay For Financial Advice

I work as a pension administrator. One crucial part of my job is that I absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, give financial advice; in order to give financial advice, you must be licensed. It is against the law to give financial advice unless you are qualified and licensed. My job is only to provide general administration — making sure payments are up to date, sending out regular letters and statements, and answering general queries about policies.

Customer: “Can you tell me what my pension is valued at right now?”

Me: “Certainly. It is currently worth [amount]. It has gone up by [amount].”

Customer: “Hmm. That’s not as much as I was hoping. Are there any other investment options?”

I run through the possible investment options available to him, giving information about each one, but I absolutely do not recommend any of them. I only give their details.

Customer: “Hmm. Is [Option #1] any good?”

Me: “I’m not trained to give you financial advice, so I couldn’t say.”

Customer: “Well, can you at least tell me if it’s better than [Option #2] or [Option #3]?”

Me: “No. That would be financial advice, and as I explained, I’m not qualified to give financial advice. I can send you details of each option in the post if you like so you can weigh them up. Or you can speak to a financial advisor.”

Customer: “Yeah, but I have to pay them. I’d much rather you tell me which is best. You must know which one is better.”

Me: “I’m sorry, but only a trained financial advisor could tell you which is better. That’s why you pay them. I’m not allowed to offer advice because I’m not trained or licensed.”

Customer: “I don’t want any excuses. Just tell me which is better! [Option #1], [Option# 2], or [Option #3]!”

Me: “I don’t know, sir. As I said, I’m not trained to give financial advice. You should really talk to your financial advisor about this.”

Customer: “This is unacceptable! Why won’t you do your job?”

Me: “I’m an administrator. My job is to keep the paperwork in order, not offer financial advice.”

Customer: “You lazy piece of s***. Get me your manager!”

I passed the customer through to my manager, who just repeated the same things I’d told him and then ended the call.

While I appreciate the customer’s frustration, I’m not trained or qualified to give financial advice. I honestly wouldn’t have been able to tell him which was a better option. You wouldn’t trust somebody without medical training to treat you, so why would you want somebody with zero financial training to give you investment advice?