The Great Rotation
A year ago there was much talk of a Great Rotation out of bonds and into equities. As ever when a widely-held view is neatly captured by a snappy moniker, things didn’t pan out quite as expected. While bonds have not had the greatest of years, and equities have, it is less obvious that the
December 12, 2013
Is real estate in your super fund even worth it?
A lot of the debate about property in self-managed super funds has missed a bigger issue: is there a reasonable investment case for it being there in the first place? Dug Higgins explains. As we look back on 2013, if one thing will stick in my memory it’s the seemingly endless debate around geared property
December 12, 2013
UBS and Grocon in Australian real estate joint venture
UBS Global Asset Management, one of the top five real estate investment managers globally, and Grocon, Australia’s largest private development and construction firm, have announced the creation of an Australian-based full service real estate investment and asset management platform. The joint venture, based in Sydney, will combine UBS Global Asset Management’s global capital raising and
December 12, 2013
Retirement anxiety increases: CFS
Australian retail investors remained cautious towards domestic equities in the September 2013 quarter, despite a rebound in global equity markets, according to Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM). The S&P/ASX200 Accumulation Index surged by 10.2 per cent over this period, as markets responded well to the US Federal Reserve’s decision not to reduce its bond-buying
December 12, 2013
BGL partners with Australia Post
BGL Corporate Solutions, Australia’s leading supplier of administration software to Self-managed superannuation funds, has partnered with Australia Post to provide SuperStream services to clients. The BGL / Australia Post service will provide signup and data delivery to Simple Fund 360 and Simple Fund Desktop. BGL managing director Ron Lesh said SuperStream was a huge project
December 12, 2013
Media blamed for alarmist SMSF reporting
Sensational media reports that claim a large and rapidly growing number of self-managed superannuation funds are gearing up to invest in property are unsupported by data, according to the latest SMSF data. The Heffron SMSF Borrowing Data Report showed only 12 per cent, or 208, of the 1,700 SMSFs administered by Heffron had a Limited
December 10, 2013
Investor/funds manager mismatch
Investors have no plans to increase their exposure to hedge funds and aren’t interested in buying multiple products from one funds manager, according to Ernst & Young’s seventh annual survey of the global hedge fund market. A new report by EY titled: Exploring pathways to growth, found a major discrepancy between the expectations of investors
December 10, 2013
It’s not what you know, but what you can prove
The 2012 case of Tomasetti v Brailey in the New South Wales Supreme Court examined a wide range of issues including negligence, misleading or deceptive conduct, breach of contract, and a breach of the Corporations Act. In this case, the plaintiff (Tomasetti) was a lawyer and the defendant (Brailey) was his accountant and financial planner.
December 10, 2013
Cover story: People power
Clients telling their stories in their own words will be a prominent feature next year, as the financial planning profession addresses persistent misconceptions and promotes the value of advice directly to consumers. Simon Hoyle reports. During 2014, the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) will separately take their
December 10, 2013
Financial Simplicity launches customer engagement solution
Financial Simplicity, a provider of customer engagement solutions to the wealth management industry, has launched the front-end interface of its “Simplicity” solution suite to meet the growing need of wealth management firms and platforms seeking to improve their customer engagement experiences in order to attract and retain clients. The customer engagement suite is built upon
December 06, 2013
Quiet achiever adds 50, almost doubles revenue
Australian Unity Personal Financial Services, the financial advisory arm of Australian Unity, has plans to grow its network to 100 practices by 2017, and with a strong focus on forging partnerships with accountants. The group, which currently has 63 practices and 117 advisers concentrated in Melbourne and Sydney, had referral partnerships with 242 accounting firms
December 06, 2013
Time to unwind: FPA
Financial planners should relax over the Christmas period, with the Financial Planning Association predicting that 2014 will be an easier year than 2013. FPA chief executive Mark Rantall said the outlook for the financial planning industry was positive with much of the regulatory reforms bedded down and a recent FPA/Galaxy Research survey finding 92 per
December 06, 2013
