Money Week calls up; but not huge
The IFA's Money Week offer was better received than last year but there were almost twice as many advisers prepared to offer pro-bono advice than the number of calls received from the public.
Wednesday, September 11th 2013, 6:46AM 
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More than twice the number of callers sought financial advice from financial advisers this Money Week than last.
Last year, only 30 phone calls were received by the Institute of Financial Advice in their first attempt to offer pro bono advice during the week.
About a hundred advisers signed up to offer free advice during Money Week this year but they were not exactly inundated either.
Penny Mudford, chief executive of the IFA, said the response this year was almost twice what was received in 2012. Advisers were available to offer free advice on an 0800 line throughout Money Week.
There were 58 callers last week.
Mudford, who took some of the calls herself, said people wanted advice on everything from mortgages to savings and investment to retirement planning.
“Everyone had one hour of pro bono advice.”
She said the campaign had boosted awareness of what advisers did. The wide range of places that people reported hearing about the free advice offer showed the message had been widely received, she said.
People said they had called after seeing advertisements on work noticeboards, in local papers and on news websites.
“We will look to do it again because the benefit is that people get to talk to a financial adviser. I would expect there might be people who would not normally be able to find a financial adviser who had the opportunity to call the 0800 number.”
She said those people would then think about getting more financial advice in future. Callers were spread across the country – there were almost as many from Christchurch as from Auckland. Many called from regional New Zealand.
IFA members had been keen to participate, she said. “As well as promoting financial advice, there’s a sense of offering advice as a public good.”
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Three questions really
1. Is this reporting factually correct?
2. If yes, is Penny Mudford registered as a financial services provider or is IFA a QFE; and
3. If the average number of calls per offering adviser was 0.58, why would the CEO take "some of the calls" herself?