HEALTH WARNING:
9% returns
If a year could come stamped with a health warning – or, better still, a wealth warning – then 2013 should carry one. Of course, many would say that this applies to bond markets, but it equally applies across a number of risk asset classes that produced stellar returns towards the end of 2012. We
February 04, 2013
Good help is hard to find: independent
Months of frustration spent looking to employ a senior financial planner could have some practice principals pining for their annual holiday, but for one independent operator, the experience has invoked the spirit of the early Contiki Tours. Last year, Professional Planner Online revealed the plight of Matthew Ross, an independent financial adviser with Roskow Independent
January 31, 2013
Drennan new CIO at Mosaic Portfolio Advisers
The ASX-listed financial planning and funds management group, SFG Australia (SFG), has appointed the former head of investments for Zurich, Matt Drennan, as chief investment officer at Mosaic Portfolio Advisers. Mosaic is the portfolio construction and management arm of the SFG business, and produces investment products for SFG’s financial planning network, which includes Shadforth, Outlook
January 31, 2013
The outlook for Australian equities in 2013
The current market recovery is starting to resemble those that followed the long bear markets after the 1987 crash and the mid-1970s oil crisis when, some five years after the original correction, the market finally started to recover. This could be coincidence or the problems were starting to be dealt with after five years –
January 29, 2013
Manage conflict and you’ll be bulletproof: ASIC
The conflict of interests provision under the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms is a clear recognition by the regulator that consumers have no idea whether their financial adviser is independent or tied to a distribution channel. It follows, therefore, that clients can’t be blamed for failing to recognise the differences between a glorified salesman
January 22, 2013
Can financial planning survive the recovery?
One of the odd things about financial planning is that the public’s confidence in its practitioners is lowest when investment markets are firing (“Why do I need to pay someone to do this?”). However, it’s just as low when investment markets have tanked (“Planners – what are they good for if they didn’t see this
January 22, 2013
Is there a silver lining for asset allocation in 2013?
Global stock indices posted double-digit returns in 2012 as Hong Kong and Germany performed best, while Japan and Spain lagged. Bond markets offered steady returns as emerging-market debt, high-yield and Italian government bonds performed strongly at the riskier end of the spectrum. But solid full-year returns tell only half the story of what was another
January 21, 2013
Headline shock threatens smooth sailing in 2013
Surely equities turned in another poor year? The European Union was on the verge of collapse with an imminent exit by Greece. The slowdown in China’s growth was a precursor to a hard landing. And to round it out, partisan politics in the US threatened to send its economy off the cliff, taking global markets
January 15, 2013
NAB planners divided on FoFA change, union acts
National Australia Bank’s NAB Wealth and MLC have defended an internal restructure of the bank’s overarching financial planning strategy that has drawn criticism from the Finance Sector Union (FSU). The union says its members have expressed a number of concerns, with most centering on planned alterations to the remuneration model for financial planners. In November
January 14, 2013
Investors polarised as sentiment edges upwards
Australian investors are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead but are not yet willing to back their instincts, although those with a financial adviser are more likely to invest. These were among the findings of CoreData Consulting’s Investor Sentiment Research Report for the fourth quarter of 2012. The report, which reviews investor sentiment towards business,
January 14, 2013
Conflicted remuneration: the heart of FoFA
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s Peter Kell, the Financial Planning Association’s Dante De Gori and Westpac financial planner Louise Lakomy discuss the finer points of conflicted remuneration. Professional Planner and the Financial Planning Association of Australia (FPA) have produced a series of videos on “Bulletproof financial planning” – a financial planner’s guide to complying
January 10, 2013
Equities to lead the way in 2013 despite uncertainty
According to American philosopher George Santayana, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it and indeed no outlook for 2013 can be accurately forecast without some reflection on 2012. The year began reasonably well with share markets rallying in the March quarter and economic data giving cause for optimism. The European Central
January 08, 2013
