Research opens a portal to put some hard numbers on the business of advice
In mid-May the an online portal called The Business of Advice went live, giving financial planning practices, licensees and associations access to leading-edge research conducted jointly by Zanetti Recruitment & Consulting and Griffith University. Opening the portal to the advice community is designed to allow financial planners assess their own businesses and to understand how
June 01, 2015
Does practice make perfect? What do you really get for 10,000 hours?
You might have heard of the so-called “10,000 Hour Rule”, according to which an individual must undertake at least 10,000 hours of “deliberate practice” in an activity in order to become an expert – or to become “world class”, whatever that currently means – in that activity. The writer Malcolm Gladwell first promulgated this rule
June 01, 2015
ANALYSIS: Retirees face doing the time warp back to the assets test ‘black hole’
In its last two Budgets the Federal Government proposed a number of measures directed at improving the sustainability of age pension provision. Central to its current solution is a redesign of the assets test which involves a return to the 7.8 per cent taper rate which existed before 2007. While the harsher taper rate will,
May 29, 2015
Advisers need to ramp up their service delivery for post-retiree clients
Financial planners have traditionally under-served retiree clients who have moved from accumulation into the draw-down phase, according to David Wright, managing partner, Zenith Investment Partners. “As an industry we really haven’t done too much different until the last couple of years, in customising either product or portfolio solutions specifically for retirement clients as opposed to
May 29, 2015
VENUS How to show your value by listening more to learn more
Leading the Stella Network has provided me with access to a range of planners in different regions, at different levels of experience and in different types of businesses. I’ve listened to their stories of what they do and why they do it, and how they started in financial planning. I’ve worked with financial planners for
May 29, 2015
Asteron breaks insurers’ silence over the Trowbridge review’s impact on advisers
Life insurance advice remuneration is likely headed towards a fee-for-service structure, according to a senior figure within Suncorp-owned insurer Asteron Life. “I would challenge and say that at some point in the future, there is an expectation that this industry could end up at a fee for service,” said Mark Vilo, executive general manager of
May 27, 2015
Why a focus on valuations will underpin ‘well informed, professional’ wealth advice
Investment advice is developing in two distinct directions: on the one hand into a “latest hot-sector” approach; and on the other into more rounded “professional” wealth advice, according to Jonathan Ramsay and Fil Andronaco, co-founders of the portfolio construction and consulting business InvestSense. Ramsay, Andronaco and a third former van Eyk Research consultant and InvestSense
May 27, 2015
The two sides of risk management: Alpha rock stars versus actuarial nerds
Investment returns have always found a natural place in the spotlight. But volatility – and the impact it can have on a portfolio – is only now getting the attention it deserves. I recently attended a seminar where volatility as an asset class was discussed, along with the opportunities available through volatility hedge fund managers
May 27, 2015
Are you ready for this? Opt in starts on July 1 and ASIC won’t be treading softly
The “facilitative approach” taken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) towards FoFA compliance ends on June 30 and financial planners have been warned to be ready to comply fully with the new laws – particularly the controversial opt-in provisions. ASIC’s softly-softly approach to compliance was extended to June 30 this year after amendments
May 25, 2015
Limiting choices – why less is more for clients and advisers
A recent survey of several hundred advisers and para-planners conducted by Behavioural Finance Australia in conjunction with one of the major institutions highlighted several opportunities for advisers to help clients make better decisions. One was by appropriately limiting the choices presented to clients. Choice offers a paradox – more choice seems attractive, but when it
May 25, 2015
What a difference a word makes: Making sense of the best interests duty ‘catch-all’
What a difference a word makes. Consider for a moment the difference between the words “any” and “all”. The best interests duty of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) laws – section 961B of the Corporations Act, or the so-called “safe harbour” steps (see below) – have caused considerable disquiet within the financial planning community,
May 25, 2015
‘We don’t need to be victims’: FPA chief’s call to action to combat bad press
The chief executive officer of the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA), Mark Rantall, has called on the financial planning community to take matters into their own hands to combat incessant negative publicity. In front of packed house of 500 FPA members yesterday on the Melbourne leg of the 33-date national roadshow, Rantall said the
May 22, 2015
