What is a fact-find in financial advice?

A fact-find is the structured information-gathering process a financial adviser conducts with a client before giving regulated advice. It is required under FCA rules, specifically COBS 9 on suitability, and it forms the evidence base for the firm's suitability report and ongoing service.

A typical fact-find covers six areas. Personal circumstances include age, dependants, employment status and health. Financial position captures income, expenditure, assets, liabilities, pensions, insurance and emergency reserves. Objectives record short, medium and long-term goals, including retirement income targets, capital events and legacy intentions. Attitude to risk is assessed through a psychometric questionnaire plus discussion, benchmarked against capacity for loss and knowledge and experience. Existing provision lists current products, providers, trail and charging structures. Preferences cover ESG views, tax sensitivity, trustee or family context, and communication channels.

The fact-find is a regulatory document, not a sales tool. Everything recorded must be used to produce suitable advice; anything missing exposes the firm to complaint risk under FOS. Under Consumer Duty the fact-find must also evidence that the firm has acted in the client's best interests, not just avoided harm.

For lead generation teams, the fact-find is where a marketing-qualified lead becomes a sales-qualified lead. A booked discovery call is not yet a fact-find; a completed fact-find is. Conversion from booked call to completed fact-find typically runs 60 to 80 per cent for warm pipeline, 30 to 50 per cent for cold paid-media leads, and under 20 per cent for very cold lead sources such as broad Meta prospecting.

Firms that pre-fill parts of the fact-find from the lead form (age range, postcode, rough asset band) reduce call friction and typically lift conversion by eight to 12 percentage points.

See the guide on landing page conversion optimisation and the glossary entry on MQL to SQL conversion.