September 18 will mark the first phase of the Financial Planning Association of Australia’s long-awaited advertising campaign – and a beginning to the end of what the FPA describes as the “free ride” enjoyed by non-FPA members.
The five-week television, ratio and print advertising campaign aims to highlight the differences between FPA members and non-members, and the potential benefits to consumers of seeking advice from FPA members.
The campaign will focus on the code of ethics, code of professional practice and ongoing professional development commitments that FPA members sign up to when they join.
The FPA is initially targeting consumers aged 35 to 64 who have at least $150,000 of investable assets (that is, assets outside the family home and superannuation) in a campaign costing about $2 million – including a six-month search engine optimisation (SEO) program to make it easier for consumers to find the FPA website when they search for financial planning services.
The FPA will spend $1.3 million on TV advertising nationally; $400,000 on print (national, metro and regional newspapers, and selected magazines); and $100,000 online. (See below for more details.)
The chairman of the FPA, Matthew Rowe, says the FPA hopes the campaign will help end the free ride enjoyed to date by non-FPA members.
The free riders are those financial planners who are not members of the FPA – and who therefore are not signatories to the association’s codes of practice and ethics – but who have nevertheless reaped the benefits of the work done to date by the FPA to promote the interests of financial planning.
Rowe says any professional is “a debtor to their profession”, and it’s unacceptable for a financial planner to gain from moves to professionalise the industry, without them committing to becoming a professional.
Rowe estimates there may be as many as 6000 individuals identifying themselves as financial planners, but who are not members of the FPA. The FPA itself has about 8000 members, about 5800 of whom are Certified Financial Planners (CFPs).
Meanwhile, the number of financial planning practices that have achieved the association’s Professional Practice designation is nearing 30, with another 80 applications in the process of being vetted. The FPA had 475 registrations of interest in achieving the Professional Practice designation, which allows a firm to use the FPA logo in its advertising and other material, provided it meets defined criteria, including a certain proportion of its practitioners being members of the FPA.
For more information on the FPA’s Best Practice campaign, including the television commercial, click HERE.
| FPA advertising schedule | |
| Pay TV | Sky News Business |
| Channel 7 – Peak | Seven News (weeknights and weekends) Packed To The Rafters Dancing With The Stars AFL (state-specific) |
| Channel 7 – Off-peak | Great South East Guide to the Good Life Mercurio’s Menu Sydney/QLD Weekender Sunrise Weekend Sunrise |
| Channel 9 – Peak | Nine News (weeknights and weekends) A Current Affair 60 Minutes Underbelly Getaway Top Gear NRL (state specific) |
| Channel 9 – Off-peak | Antiques Roadshow |
| SBS – Peak | Insight Man Vs Wild |
| SBS – Off-peak | Who Do You Think You Are? Cutting Edge Gourmet Farmer Dateline |
| Print – National | AFR (National) The Australian (National) SMH (NSW) The Age (Vic) West Australian (WA) Courier Mail (QLD) Adelaide Advertiser (SA) Hobart Mercury (TAS) Canberra Times (CAN)Supported by inserted magazines: Good Weekend (NSW/Vic) AFR Magazine (National) AFR Smart Investor (National) |
| Print – Regional | In areas with high density of FPA members: Illawarra Mercury Newcastle Herald Gold Coast Bulletin Townsville Bulletin Geelong Advertiser |
| Print – Not covered by state or metro press | Toowoomba Chronicle Rockhampton Morning Bulletin Fraser Coast Chronicle Northern Territory News |
| Online | The Eureka Report AFR – Personal Finance SMH/Age – Money |
Source: Financial Planning Association of Australia
I struggle to understand what the real benefits of financial advice are.I have yet to see anyone who has benifited without great cost but see plenty of negativity and little posativity in the market place.Its one of those made up industries made up by financial smarties to leach off the less educated.
Matthew Rowe needs to understand that if you want to be seen as a professional then you actually have to act as one. I work everyday to raise this bar by acting as a client advocate and a professional through my actions not via a paid membership. Given Mr Rowe’s quote in the above story I have to questions his ‘professional’ motives. The only reason for this advertising is to try to force other industry professionals to become members of their association. The FPA is paid by its members to promote the industry and be a positive force, not to try to discredit the professional reputations of non members. This type of action will do nothing positive for the industry. It will confuse consumers who already struggle to understand what the real benefits of financial advice are and will promote those FPA members who are not really up to scratch and continue to be product floggers rather than real client advocates who provide true advice.
From my perspective as an Adviser the FPA has done nothing for me or the industry, the FPA are to quick to jump on board planner bashing at every turn. One of the reasons we are enduring FoFA is because the FPA like ASIC were asleep at the wheel.
Having worked with CFPs who couldn’t advise their way out of a share portfolio, you have to wonder who is getting the free ride. Previous grandfathering provisions that allow tenure to determine who gets CFP status rather than skill and professionalism is a blight on the FPAs record.
That the FPA still endorses percentage/asset based fees further illustrates how out of touch they are.
That the FPA were aware of Storm’s practices yet did nothing show what they stand for.
why don’t you advertise the benefits of financial advice from Advisers and start being proactive in helping advisers for a change
I also agree.When our nemesis with the bottomless advertising budget runs riot with the backing of Shorten,will there be any money left to resist them?Spend money unravelling the hidden secrets and lies perpetuated by them and then go on the attack.
Agree with Nigel. As a FPA member and I have paid the advertising levy for the association to build a positive image of the profession. Not point fingers at other financial planners. It seems that the ads are more beneficial to “FPA” the association rather than the fee paying members.
Most consumers wouldn’t know what the FPA is – all this is doing is creating more division in an industry / profession (whatever you want to call it!) that is already dealing with enough – fantastic. I believe you are considered “professional” by the manner in which you conduct yourself with your clients, not merely a label that can be applied. Wasn’t Storm Financial a member of the FPA?? Isn’t this trotted out as one of the reasons we have FOFA?