ETF specialist expands suite of ETF model portfolios for IFAs and accountants
Australian ETF specialist, ETF Portfolio Solutions, has added to its suite of service offerings for independent financial advisers (IFAs) and licenced accountants with several additions to its model portfolio suite planned prior to Christmas. “The ETF segment continues to grow rapidly in Australia at more than 45% in the last 12 months, reflecting global growth
November 24, 2014
Colonial First State launches new-look FirstWrap investor site
Colonial First State today announced the release of its new-look FirstWrap secure investor website, which will enhance clients’ online experience and make it easier for them to access information about their portfolio. CFS Head of Retail Platforms, Peter Labrie, said the new site is part of CFS’s Future State Program – a multi-year program of
November 24, 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
Age is not (just) a number – Standard Life Investments
Global population growth is slowing. After peaking at just over 2% per annum (p.a.) in the late 1960s, the world’s population is currently growing at 1.1% p.a. and is expected to moderate to 0.5% p.a. by 2050. As population growth slows, the world is also ageing. In 1950 there were just 9.9 people aged over
November 21, 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
Self-managed super assumptions are disproved by a UBS, FSC report
The rate of property investment inside self-managed super funds (SMSFs) is considerably lower than expected, according to a joint report from the Financial Services Council (FSC) and UBS. “Also to the question around leverage, this again was quite low, with regard to people having leveraged property or leveraged equities in their self managed portfolio,” says
November 19, 2014
Vale Max Campbell – a pioneer and professional planner to the core
One of the pioneers of the planning profession and a true professional to the core has sadly passed away. Max Campbell, co-founder of the CIS and CWM integrated planning and accounting business, instrumental in the foundation and success of the Snowball Group, died unexpectedly on Sunday, November 16, 2014. At a time when financial planners
November 19, 2014
