By Gavin Lumsden, editor-in-chief of Citywire Financial Publishers

The need for financial advice has never been greater. The after-effects of the 2008 banking crisis have left the State in retreat, with many people realising they must make financial provision, without necessarily knowing how to do so.

A survey conducted for Standard Life, the investment and pensions group, found people who took advantage of financial advice retired with nearly double the pension pot of those who did not. It seems advisers keep their clients on the straight and narrow, and encourage them to save more and for longer.

Goodbye Commission

The debate around the value of advice has stepped up a gear in the last couple of years, with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) abolishing commission as its last major act before being replaced in a shake-up of the regulatory system.

The FSA's move means that all financial advisers have had to stop being paid commission by the companies whose financial products they recommend and instead must be paid by their clients.

Changing the way financial advice is paid for is an historic achievement because the commission's system was badly flawed. Firstly, it confused many people into thinking financial advice was free, when in fact they paid for it in higher product charges. Secondly, it undermined confidence in the adviser. Was he or she working for the client or the product provider?

Those advisers who didn't prepare for the end of commission have been faced with the challenge of explaining to customers why they now have to pay for a service they didn't think they were paying for - a potentially difficult conversation.

New Model Adviser

However, those firms that were ahead of the game and adopted adviser charging because it was the right thing to do, rather than because their regulator wanted it, have had a huge opportunity to promote their service to the wider public. Now, there is a level playing field among financial advisers.

I've got a personal take on this because I used to edit New Model Adviser, a weekly magazine that championed the emergence of a new breed of professional financial planners.

In my job, I spoke to hundreds of advisers about how they were placing clients at the centre of their businesses and striving to improve their service and expertise.

Although the advisers were a varied bunch doing lots of difference things, there were five key areas where I could see they added value and justified their fees.

Setting Goals and Achieving Them

Money is not an end in itself for most people, rather it is a means to an end that enables us to do things.

All good advisers help clients step back and look at their lives with some perspective. With an adviser's help a person can get in control of his or her money rather than letting it control them.

A qualified adviser will know how to analyse a person's current financial situation and calculate what it will take to achieve their lifetime goals and ambitions.

Investment Guide

An in-depth conversation with an adviser may yield 'the Number' or amount of money someone needs to gain financial independence.

The next step is to put in place an investment plan that will ensure that sum is provided when it is needed. In financial services jargon this is the 'accumulation phase' of a person's life. Whether the adviser handles investment management in house or outsources it to another firm, he or she plays an invaluable role in guiding a client through volatile stock markets and a myriad of investment options.

At Retirement Guide

Possibly the most vital time to take financial advice is when a person is approaching retirement.

The 'decumulation' phase where individuals turn their savings into an income involves important decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. Broadly speaking, the more money a person has, the greater their options. Advisers are worth their weight in gold at this point because they keep abreast of the complex and continually changing rules around retirement planning.

Problem solver

All good financial advisers are experienced problem solvers. I remember one adviser telling me how he helped a client with a long-standing business get funding for new machinery after his loan application was turned down by his bank. The solution involved transferring several old pensions into a Sipp (self-invested personal pension), which then purchased the freehold of the premises of his business.

Your Champion

Above all other things, I'd say the value of a financial adviser is having someone on your side who you can talk to and rely upon.

Advisers are a friendly bunch and are good at sending cards, flowers, chocolates and even magazine subscriptions to clients on their birthdays and other significant anniversaries.

One adviser in the City of London even organised a retirement lunch for a client and presented him with a gold watch to mark the occasion.

You could say this is no more than good customer relations. However, on a more serious note, many advisers help clients gain compensation from various institutions after they've received poor financial advice around investments and tax planning.

But my favourite example is an adviser in Wokingham who continued to fight for a client after she died. He began a five-year legal battle ending in High Court victory after one of the beneficiaries of his client's will wrongly claimed to be entitled to the full proceeds. 'No-one was there to fight her battle for her and I wanted to make sure a wrong was put right,' he said.

This article originally featured in Equinox, Equilibrium's half-yearly investment magazine. To read back issues of the magazine, visit our resources section.