COVER STORY: Charting the evolution of investment research
In the late 1980s Estate Mortgage was virtually the only game in town for media covering the retail managed funds industry. The company, which promoted itself as being “just like a bank or a building society, but even better”, eventually collapsed in 1990, owing investors about $600 million. Leading the scrutiny of Estate Mortgage was
November 28, 2014
IN FOCUS: Assessing investors’ needs a decade from now drives manager selection
Every year that Professional Planner has been involved in managed fund awards, one name has consistently featured among the winners. The Macquarie Professional Series, which turned 10 years old this month, was named Product Distributor of the Year in 2009 and has been every year since, including in the Professional Planner|Zenith Fund Awards 2014. In
November 26, 2014
Sunsuper, FPA partnership is the latest member-focused advice deal
Sunsuper’s new referral partnership with the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) is the latest in a number of recent financial advice tie-ups between super funds and financial planning licensees. The program sees Sunsuper retain its in-house team of advisers in Queensland and Sydney and add direct relationships with adviser practices nationwide which share the
November 26, 2014
Is financial planning self-regulation a right or privilege?
As an aspiring profession, we often chant the mantra of self-regulation as though it’s our God-given right to run our own race free from government interference and red tape. Ideologically, we support this position on the basis that “free markets” should be preferred as a matter of principle and that government regulation of business should
November 26, 2014
FPA Professionals Congress 2014 – photo gallery
November 25, 2014
Has a popular solution to managing market volatility kicked the bucket?
Financial planners know that even intelligent people can become highly irrational when it comes to money. Managing a client’s expectations and emotions is just as important as managing their exposure to markets. The “bucket strategy” (or “time segmentation strategy”) is one attempt to tackle the tendency of investors to sell out of markets at the
November 24, 2014
Recommending a platform comes with its own set of compliance obligations
Making a recommendation to use a platform for investment purposes is a common strategy among financial advisers. Advisers must ensure they are complying with the best interests duty and related obligations throughout the entire advice process. From the initial discussion, through research, until the final advice, these obligations apply to an even greater degree. When
November 24, 2014
Professionals recognise their own in awards that salute the best of the best
Randall Stout, a partner in the Perth-based financial planning practice HPH Solutions, has been named the 2014 Certified Financial Planner (CFP) Professional of the Year. The chief executive officer of the FPA, Mark Rantall, said the award recognises “professionals who have demonstrated the highest professional standards embodied by an FPA member”. “Our award winners are
November 24, 2014
Mentoring as a valuable tool to kickstart a risk advice career
Financial planning mentorship programs should be a standard offering across Australian Financial Services licensees, according to Nick Fanto, insurance specialist with Foundation Broking. Thirty-year-old Fanto says he has benefited immensely from being mentored by an experienced financial planner, after joining the industry at the age of 24. “I’ve just been lucky that the opportunity fell
November 21, 2014
FoFA turmoil creates a parallel universe – in which one do planners exist?
The financial planning industry’s response to the disallowance of regulations to the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) laws was both predictable and completely understandable. For an industry and a profession that already has lived through more than five years of turmoil and uncertainty, this was the very last thing it needed. We’re now right bang
November 21, 2014
Oil’s well that ends well: the flipside to the falling price of crude
The plunge in the oil price in recent months has given investors a simple but misleading narrative – commodity-consuming developed markets good, commodity-exporting emerging markets bad. As ever with investment stories, there is a grain of truth in this but the reality is more nuanced. There’s no arguing with the first part of the thesis.
November 21, 2014
Institutional, non-aligned tensions persist as AMP announces Genesys shakeup
AMP’s decision to manage Genesys financial planners towards the exit highlights the sort of tensions that increasingly exist between independently minded financial planners and institutionally owned licensees. In a world of best interests duty, when the priorities of an institution push it in one direction and the priorities of financial planners pull them in another,
November 19, 2014
