Is your firm turning away the clients it will want tomorrow?

The UK advice gap has grown to 14.6 million people, up from 12 million in 2025. The current model often requires people to be wealthier before it will help them become better investors. Convenient, if not especially helpful.

That sounds like a failure of access, which it is. But it also points to a large group of future clients who have started investing, know they need help and don’t yet fit the conventional advice model. Boring Money estimates that people within the gap collectively hold £1,045 billion in assets. Individually, many may fall below firms’ minimum asset thresholds. Put them together and they are rather harder to dismiss.

The increase is being driven largely by first-time and less experienced investors. They have taken an initial step into the market but lack the confidence to continue without more support. The proportion of UK adults holding a stocks and shares ISA, personal pension or general investment account rose from 31 per cent in 2025 to 33 per cent in 2026.

Yet 9.9 million non-advised investors now report low investment confidence, up from 8 million in 2025. A further 4.7 million people have at least £10,000 in cash and say they are willing to invest but haven’t done so.

These aren’t necessarily people ready to become full advice clients tomorrow. Some won’t have enough investable wealth to make the current service economical for either side. But they’re investing, considering investing and actively looking for help. That makes them rather more interesting than a theoretical future market.

Targeted Support may help, but the industry still has to resist treating 14.6 million people as a fascinating market segment it never quite serves.

Targeted Support could provide the first step

Boring Money estimates that more than half of those within the advice gap, around 7.7 million people, could benefit from Targeted Support as the new services become available. For many, that support could be their first encounter with useful, relevant financial help. It won’t replace individual advice, but it may give less confident investors a simpler route into making an initial decision.

Some will later need full advice as their assets increase and their finances become more complicated. Careers progress, inheritances arrive, families grow and retirement moves from an abstract idea to something with an unsettlingly specific date attached.

Advice firms don’t need to serve all 14.6 million people. They should, however, think carefully about how potential clients can stay connected until they are ready. That might mean useful educational content, clearly explained service levels or a referral route for those who don’t yet meet the firm’s criteria. Simply turning them away leaves somebody else to build the relationship.

There’s an obvious difficulty. Many advisers are already struggling to keep pace with existing clients, never mind nurturing several million prospective ones.

That’s where The Timebank can help. Our experienced paraplanners can support the research, analysis and suitability work for new and existing clients, giving your firm more room to grow without immediately adding another permanent employee.

The advice gap may be getting wider. For firms prepared to look beyond today’s minimum asset threshold, the client pipeline is getting bigger too.