Why a Client Annual Review Template Isn’t Enough Anymore

Data shows the advice industry has stagnated when it comes to efficiency.

For the past five years, advisers have made no measurable improvement in how long it takes to deliver the first piece of advice to new clients. According to the NextWealth Financial Advice Business Benchmarks 2024, 75% of firms take three weeks or more, averaging 33 days to deliver initial advice, even with major advances in technology (pg. 34).

When time is tight and compliance is high, many turn to a client annual review template as a shortcut. But a template can only take you so far. The benchmarks show that gathering data from providers and clients remains the biggest bottleneck. Worse, these inefficiencies persist despite growing investment in advice technology and AI.

Templates Are a Symptom of a Bigger Issue

The average adviser spends just over half their week on regulated tasks. That means the other half is often eaten up by admin, data gathering, and report writing. It’s no surprise then that paraplanning is the fastest-growing area of outsourcing—firms are desperate to free up time. Yet templated reports don’t solve the root problem. They assume consistency where complexity exists. And under the Consumer Duty rules, relying too heavily on boilerplate copy opens firms up to compliance risk.

The Push for Better Client Experiences

The average portfolio size may hover around £435,000, but value isn’t just about assets under management (pg. 16). According to the report, clients most value:

- Peace of mind

- A clear financial plan

- Achieving their goals

An off-the-shelf template can’t deliver that level of personalisation or clarity. A bespoke client annual review, tailored to each client’s life stage, goals, and investment strategy, is what builds trust and long-term value.

Technology is Moving in the Right Direction...Slowly

The good news? Report preparation is the only part of the annual review process showing signs of improvement. Tools that summarise meetings, streamline data input, or automatically pull information from provider feeds are gaining traction. Still, only one in five advice professionals is satisfied with their current tech stack, and 28% are now using AI tools, up from 5% last year.

A Better Alternative to Templates

Rather than relying on a generic client annual review template, forward-thinking advisers are moving toward bespoke, editable reports written in minutes using intelligent tools. These tools don’t just fill in fields—they structure the entire narrative, flag inconsistencies, and support regulatory compliance. They allow firms to:

- Reduce time-to-deliver

- Minimise compliance risk

- Offer more personalised, higher-quality reviews

- Serve more clients without increasing headcount

In an era of rising client expectations and greater regulatory oversight, this shift is long overdue.

Final Thought

Templates helped bridge the gap between efficiency and scale, but they no longer meet the bar. If you’re still sending templated reports in 2025, you may be falling behind the firms that are automating not just their documents, but their entire review process.

It’s time to move from generic to genuinely useful. Because clients don’t want a template, they want advice that fits.

Automwrite was built for advisers who are ready to move beyond templates. It writes bespoke, compliance-ready annual reviews in seconds. No copy-pasting, no formatting nightmares, and no missed details.

Whether you're trying to reduce turnaround time, improve quality, or serve more clients without hiring more staff, Automwrite makes it possible.

Because advice should feel personal, not pre-written.