Self-licensed, Sydney-based financial planning firms WLM Financial Services, Northstar Financial Advisers and More4Life Financial Services will help spearhead the creation of a national association to promote the benefits of alternative investments and target return strategies.
The formation of the Real Return User Group was confirmed at a meeting early this month which was attended by ten industry professionals including the group’s leader Philip Reid.
Financial advisers Matthew Walker, principal of WLM Financial Services; Alistair Saunders, principal of Northstar Financial Advisers and James Walker-Powell, principal of More4Life Financial Services will likely form the Real Return User Group’s Adviser Member Committee.
Walker said the Global Financial Crisis stirred WLM Financial Services to actively search for better alternatives to traditional strategic asset allocation models and managed funds which hugged traditional benchmarks.
“We believe there is a better way to help our clients achieve their goals. The GFC demonstrated that static asset allocation does not work and won’t ensure people achieve their financial goals. Our clients want us to develop and build a portfolio the meets their needs and objectives,” he said.
“Being a small independently-owned advisory group, it’s hard to challenge the entrenched way of thinking and cut a new path, which is why a number of us are coming together.”
Details of the Real Return User Group are still being finalised but tentatively advisers will pay a membership fee of around $1,000 per annum, which will fund initiatives to improve the industry’s understanding of non-traditional manager strategies.
The group’s next meeting will be held in February. The agenda will be to set both short term and longer term priorities, as well as identify third party organisations such as research houses and consultants which can potentially assist the group. The group will also discuss the potential to work with education providers to develop a course and accreditation for advisers who specialise in non-traditional manager strategies.
Walker said the current rules and regulation made it hard for advisers to act in their clients’ best interests, adding that technology will play a major role in creating a solution that allowed advisers to administer portfolios efficiently while adhering to all the regulatory requirements.
“Individually we don’t have the scale and resources available to the big end of town, and we have different business models,” he said. “There’s room for both but naturally the smaller end of town gets left behind sometimes and this group is one way we can share our thoughts and ideas, and pool our resources to educate consumers, trustees, PI insurers and regulators like ASIC and APRA.”
Reid said the group’s focus was to attract like-minded advisers who are already actively using alternatives in their business.
“The is not an education forum for advisers, although it aims to lift the industry’s knowledge and acceptance of non-traditional manager strategies,” he said.
