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Editor's Letter

Avoiding unintended consequences
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 | Simon Hoyle
Sometimes it’s hard to see the forest for the trees. The financial planning industry is facing a lot of change, it’s coming quickly, and it’s difficult to work out exactly what the outcome is likely to be. Read more...

Writer's Blog

  • Oil's well that ends well By Mathew Kaleel. Last month, I discussed three themes that we believe will be critical in the determination of investment returns going forward. Over the last couple of months, another issue has started...
  • Bobbin and Griffin from Bourke to Sydney On August 4, Peter Bobbin and Ray Griffin will set off from Bourke, in rural NSW, on a 10-day, 1250km bike ride to Sydney. Their aim is to raise awareness of the Future2 Foundation, and also to raise money...

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Make your voice heard

Do you have an opinion you’d like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you. If there’s an issue you're passionate about that relates to financial planning, we invite you to post your own blog here. The best entries will be featured in our weekly site updates.

Simply register first (if you have not already done so) and login. You will see a menu option in the user menu on the left called 'My Blog Dashboard'. Click on it, and there…

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Changing the face of financial planning

CHRIS BOWEN FACES THE INDUSTRY

BOWEN : What we’ve announced in the last two weeks, the reform process, is not small, and so there is a lot of work to be done in terms of getting through the Parliament. And there’s a couple of issues that we need to think about.

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In this month's issue

April-May 2010

Client case study: A Simple Plan
Private banking: Understanding the front line
Professionalism: The unique distinguishing feature
Investor psychology:
Short-term focus, long-term pain

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Latest Comments

FPA comes out fighting

Mark you are absolutely correct that to set a one year time frame for an opt-in is not practical. I think an up to three year opt in time frame, where...

FPA comes out fighting

In my humble opinion the key to all the debate is as Mark says, "What is the problem that we’re trying to solve?” The Ripoll report sights financi...

FPA comes out fighting

Vested interest If you look at the research conducted by such organisations such as Buisness Health how we get paid ranks way down the list of why we ...

FPA comes out fighting

To those who constantly harp about the shortcomings of the FPA, they are the only professional body of substance with any ability to make change in a ...

Self-Managed Super

What Cooper means for SMSFs
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 | Bryce Figot
In mid-2009, the Federal Government announced a comprehensive review of Australia’s superannuation system to be headed by Jeremy Cooper. The review was broken into several stages. The stage involving the review into... Read more...
Catch-all and general compliance clauses
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 | Tony Negline
A general compliance clause is intended  to automatically incorporate super legislation  changes into the trust deed. An example of a general compliance clause is:  “Where compliance with a SIS requirement ... Read more...
How to protect your super during bankruptcy
Monday, 12 April 2010 | Bryce Figot
Bankruptcy and other insolvency activi­ties are on the rise, increasing 11 per cent in the 2008-09 year, compared to the 2007-08 year. An important question now is how superannuation is treated upon bankruptcy.... Read more...
Managing business succession
Friday, 09 April 2010 | Tony Negline
A key objective of business succession in many small or medium busi­nesses involves seeking to ensure that a business survives after a significant event such as death, permanent disablement, temporary disablement, imprisonment... Read more...
Costs make reserves hard to justify
Thursday, 28 January 2010 | Tony Negine
A reserve occurs in a superannuation fund when it has surplus assets. That is, when the net market value of assets in a fund exceeds the net value of benefits payable to its beneficiaries. Reserves have been used by larger... Read more...

Practice Management

Facing your moment of truth
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 | Rod Bertino
It appears to us that the principals of Australia’s advisory practices face an interesting dilemma. How do they react to an improving marketplace? Read more...
Brace for change
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 |
Financial planners are being asked to accept a hell of a lot of change in their working lives and businesses right now. Read more...
Let’s talk about fees
Tuesday, 01 June 2010 | Martin Mulcare
We all know that the number one issue in the industry today is fees. There is plenty of attention given to how to determine the right price, how (and when) to present the fee, and various business transition strategies. I would... Read more...
The truth is out there
Monday, 12 April 2010 | Rod Bertino
While the Australian financial services sector is huge in monetary terms, it is substantially influenced by a relatively small number of larger players (product manufactur­ers, platform providers and dealers alike), and the fact... Read more...
Competitive Advantage
Monday, 12 April 2010 |
With the nature of the financial plan­ning industry set to be changed by the forces of consolidation sweeping through the sector, and with the pending - while unknown at this time - regulatory changes, independent financial... Read more...

Planner Profiles

Into clear air
Monday, 23 November 2009 | Simon Hoyle
“There are some things that occur that one would argue are outside of one’s control,” says Michael Guggenheimer, chief executive of AMP Financial Planning (AMPFP). It’s a familiar feeling for many people involved in... Read more...
Strength In Numbers
Thursday, 01 October 2009 | Simon Hoyle
By the end of June, 2011, Steve Walpole aims to have moved his financial planning business to 100 per cent fee-only advice. Not one cent will come from investment products. It won’t have been an easy journey, and that date is... Read more...
Parallel Paths
Monday, 27 July 2009 | Simon Hoyle
Tina Zekants and Greg Batterham graduated from the AMP Horizons financial planning academy on the same day, but their business paths have turned out to be very different. Simon Hoyle reports. Read more...
Pure & Simple
Tuesday, 02 June 2009 | Simon Hoyle
Late in 2008, Luke Rathborne faced a choice. Having spent several years working for large financial institutions in Australia and overseas, and convinced that financial planning was a long-term career option, Rathborne had to... Read more...
A family affair
Wednesday, 01 April 2009 | Simon Hoyle
When Securitor’s planners gather in Darwin this month for their 2009 national convention, it will be against a backdrop of global financial turmoil and market dislocation the likes of which many planners have never experienced... Read more...

Investor Psychology

Short-term focus, long-term pain
Wednesday, 26 May 2010 | Bob Van Munster
In the wealth management industry we  constantly advocate the need for investors  to take a long-term view - we have even written  about this many times ourselves in this column.  Sadly though, many continue... Read more...
Discipline and an open mind the secrets to success
Monday, 12 April 2010 | Bob Van Munster
Long periods of market volatility and uncertainty are sure to inject fear into investors. The recent global financial crisis is a prime example. During such periods, there tends to be a rise in the number of unopened... Read more...
Anchoring and aversion to ambiguity
Thursday, 28 January 2010 | Bob Van-Munster
Last year finished up being a real surprise for many investors and commentators alike. After dipping 15 per cent in the early part of the year, the Australian sharemarket looked set to repeat 2008’s 38 per cent fall. But how... Read more...
Why smart people do dumb things
Thursday, 01 October 2009 | Craig Hobart
After receiving average annual returns of around 25 per cent for four consecutive years, Australian share investors have experienced a rude shock over the past two financial years, with the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index... Read more...
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Opinion

Top Headline
Deserved recognition

The increasing strength and importance of the self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) sector is now being formally recognised on more than one front by the big players in the market, including the Federal Government. The Self-Managed Super Funds Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) has...

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Going greener

My New Year’s resolution is to increase my advocacy of green investment. Let me also immediately declare an interest, in that Industry Funds Management (IFM) has been a long-term investor in green energy through its ownership of Pacific Hydro, which is a leading developer and operator of wind power...

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Defining responsibility

One key recommendation outlined in the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) Inquiry into financial products and services report relates to the need for a legislated fiduciary responsibility between financial planner and client. Since the release of the report, the speculation about what this means exactly...

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To serve and protect

As part of our ongoing commitment to the improvement of professional standards, the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) believes that self-managed super fund (SMSF) auditors should be encouraged to aspire to higher levels of achievement, post-graduate education...

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Special Reports

The action here is behind the scenes
Capital-protected and income-protected products are a little like the proverbial duck. On the surface - from the investor’s perspective - they seem serene, paddling around unperturbed, oblivious to any turmoil in markets around...
LICs get boost from ETF popularity
An overlooked investment vehicle is getting another look-in, as planners begin to reassess the benefits of listedinvestments. Simon Hoyle reports.
It’s all about the company you keep
Planners whose thinking on fixed income extends no further than managed funds and government bonds might be doing clients a disservice as other opportunities present themselves. Simon Hoyle reports

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