A fact find is the structured information-gathering an adviser completes before making a recommendation. It records circumstances, objectives, income, assets, liabilities, attitude to risk and capacity for loss, and forms the evidence base on which suitability rests.
Hard facts are the numbers — income, holdings, debts, dependants. Soft facts are the reasoning: what the client is trying to achieve, what they fear, who matters to them, what they would not compromise on. Advice fails more often on the soft facts than the hard ones.
It goes stale. A fact find completed at onboarding and refreshed once a year describes a client as they were, not as they are, and every life event in between is invisible until someone asks the right question.
It is also only as complete as the client's memory on the day. Assets they forgot to mention are assets the plan does not account for — which is where held-away holdings and connected data change the picture.
