When life hands you peppers: why adaptability and resilience are the spices of life
My grasp of history isn’t the tightest, even at the best of times, which is why I so often find myself doomed to relive it. If you’re like me then you probably thought that Vikings really did wear horned helmets (they didn’t – it’s a dumb idea to give your enemy something they can grab
July 19, 2015
Finance and philanthropy melded as fund managers offer their services for free
Financial planners have an opportunity to speak with clients about the dual goals of good investment returns and philanthropy with the launch of Australia’s first listed philanthropic wealth creation vehicles. The Future Generation Global Investment Company has launched two listed investment companies, one focusing on Australian equities and the other on global equities that donate
July 16, 2015
Cash conundrum: Investors and fund managers assess the cost of managing risk
Investors have done well for themselves in recent years. It’s no surprise, as trillions of dollars in government funding has flooded markets in an attempt to wash away the pain of the global financial crisis. But just when investors were asking whether the Australian sharemarket has run too hard after three years of double-digit returns,
July 16, 2015
Transparency, governance, accurate data: essential ingredients of a robust index
Every day, MSCI calculates and publishes about 150,000 equity market indices around the world. Its flagship index, the All Countries World Index (ACWI) tracks equity markets in 46 separate countries. Such is the appetite of investors for benchmarks to help them track and measure investment performance and to implement cost-effective asset allocation models that MSCI’s
July 16, 2015
Advisers are missing the boat when it comes to digital engagement with clients
Most financial planners are not fully leveraging the client engagement opportunities mobile digital technology presents, according to an Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) white paper. The study, conducted by Beddoes Institute with the support of Zurich and the AFA, showed ownership of mobile devices, including smartphones and ‘tablets’, is significantly higher among financial advice clients
July 14, 2015
New designation bringing certainty to clients seeking a trusted adviser
Trusted financial advice is a myth for too many Australians. It’s practically impossible to discern a trusted financial adviser. This is particularly frustrating, given that compulsory superannuation was introduced more than two decades ago and, since then, the industry has failed to build credible, trustworthy firms filled with talented and ethical professionals. There are many
July 14, 2015
Full in-house financial planning service takes off at AvSuper
AvSuper has extended its financial personal advice service to provide a full in-house financial planning service to members. The $2 billion fund appointed three fully qualified and licensed financial planners last month to serve its 6500 members in air services (including pilots, air traffic controllers and those working in the airside fire service). They are
July 14, 2015
ANALYSIS: Learning the lessons of history to put sequence risk in its place
Discussions of sequence or series risk regularly appear in the specialist financial media, and are increasingly appearing in the general press. In simple terms, fear of sequence risk drives investors to take equity and risky asset exposures out of their retirement portfolios. More specifically, sequence risk is the fear that a series of bad returns
July 11, 2015
Surveys prove that monitoring client feedback is a highly profitable exercise
A litmus test for every financial planning business is what its clients think about it. But without explicitly asking clients what they think, there’s no good way of knowing. Terry Bell, a partner in consulting firm Business Health, says there are clear financial benefits for planning practices that check in regularly with clients and monitor
July 11, 2015
Another month, another Australian financial planning dealer group under fire
IOOF CEO Chris Kelaher fronted an at times hostile Senate inquiry earlier this week, and mainstream media has again gone into overdrive to report on the alleged corporate corruption. Commentators have drawn obvious comparisons between the IOOF scandal and those of other dealer groups at Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie and National Australia Bank. Suggestions that IOOF’s
July 09, 2015
