Mortgage Choice plans to blaze franchise trail
Mortgage Choice has opened the first of 10 financial planning businesses it plans to trial over the next six months with a view to having 60 planners operating across Australia in three years' time. Mortgage Choice Financial Planning will operate as a separate franchised business to the existing mortgage broking business, although it will initially leverage heavily off the broking side of the business.
October 16, 2012
Divorce model reveals the costs of delay
Divorce proceedings can be financially devastating for the parties involved but a new financial-advice modelling tool claims it is possible to cut months off the length of a typical settlement process.
October 16, 2012
Accountants trickle into planning before 2016 flood
As many as 1000 accountants will transition from advising on self-managed super funds to offering a full financial planning service by 2016. While Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation Bill Shorten expects to see up to 10,000 accountants become licensed under the recently introduced limited Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), which will replace the accountant’s exemption from next year, questions remain over which business models will best manage the new environment.
October 15, 2012
IFAs urged to reconsider value proposition
Quality of advice alone does not offer IFAs a “compelling differentiator” from larger groups and rejecting managed funds is the first step to true independence. A compelling differentiator Rethinking managed funds
October 11, 2012
Schroder is Fund Manager of the Year
Schroder Investment Management has been named the Fund Manager of the Year, in the Professional Planner/Zenith Fund Awards 2012. Fund Manager of the Year Schroders Bennelong Funds Management, Grant Samuel Funds Management Celeste Funds Management
October 05, 2012
ASIC targets substance in guidance
The regulator’s guidance document on conflicted remuneration goes well beyond industry expectation and allows “very little wiggle room.” In deciding whether a benefit is conflicted remuneration, we propose to focus on the substance of a benefit over its form, and consider the overall circumstances in which the benefit is given. The guidance states:
October 02, 2012
October 2012:
Digital content
A guide to the Professional Planner September 2012 edition and links to authors and additional content.
October 01, 2012
Clawbacks threat to revenue, valuations
Risk advisers fear the value of their businesses will fall if proposed anti-churn measures are introduced, as speculation intensifies around the real motivation for commission clawbacks. Mergers and acquisitions corporate advisory firm, Radar Results, says feedback from risk advisers suggests the proposed anti-churn measures are both unnecessary and likely to reduce the value of their business.
September 20, 2012
Client needs up front at Hillross
His mother’s plan had been to send the young George to Australia with the money he’d need to acquire an education Client goals, front and centre The very first thing the client and planner focus on is what the client’s needs are from the potential relationship.
September 18, 2012
Storm settlement: CBA to carry the can
CBA will make available up to $136 million as compensation for losses suffered on investments made through Storm The compensation will be available to many CBA customers who borrowed from the bank to invest through Storm, including those who are members of the Sherwood class action that has been brought against CBA.
September 17, 2012
Government tinkering a “body blow” to SMSFs
SMSF Professionals Association of Australia (SPAA) has warned against further changes to superannuation following media reports that the federal government was considering cutting tax breaks, particularly for self-managed super funds.
September 10, 2012
Q&A: What investors are asking advisers
Here Fidelity Worldwide Investment’s investment director, Tom Stevenson (right), takes a stab at the top 10 questions investors are putting to their financial advisers. How does the situation in Europe affect investments?
September 06, 2012
