25 February 2021
With the world of platforms undergoing significant growth, HUB24, Netwealth and Praemium are the charmers of the equity markets right now.
We take a deeper look at the ever-expanding platform universe to reveal some commentary and reviews, provided by the advisers who use them.
17 February 2021
The Australian life insurance industry appears to face structural and legislative changes year after year, and much like the movie Greenland, there needs be a massive reset that is likely to have potential casualties along the way.
Read on as we dive into the details of our latest Financial Advice Landscape Study and reflect on the state of the retial life insurance industry.
10 February 2021
What is in the water cooler at ASIC? Or is there something strange in the air conditioning units of the shared offices frequented by our newest licensee entrepreneurs? Why has a two-year trend to fewer and larger licensees suddenly reversed?
3 February 2021
It was another cracking quarter, dominated by global events, major regulatory updates, and ongoing corporate actions. With a new year bringing more musical chairs for advisers and practices, we see the adviser population shrink by another 431, pushing numbers below 21,000
27 January 2021
In this current world of uncertainty - politically, economically, and in terms of COVID-19 - no doubt are you advising clients to prepare for the worst and hope for the best?
But are you approaching your own business future with the same degree of attention to the upside and downside scenarios?
13 January 2021
For many advisers, Christmas came early in December when the government announced the disbanding of FASEA, supporting a promising new narrative from Canberra about reducing red tape and lowering the cost of advice.
So what do advisers think the post-FASEA world will look like?
16 December 2020
Like the financial advisers themselves, the research house sector is a highly influential gatekeeper to money flows.
In this week's feature article, we breakdown some interesting perspectives that are emerging with the rise of direct investing and managed accounts in recent years, Corporate actions, COVID-19 review cycles and Gaggles...
9 December 2020
Can life get any more difficult for life insurers? Sales are down circa 10% for 2020 according to recent Plan For Life data and life insurers are playing a game of chicken with each other on repricing in order to get back towards profitability, although these premium step-ups have commenced and are understandably being met with great concern by advisers and their clients.
2 December 2020
With COVID-19 dominating this period and advisers working remotely under extreme pressure, it has really tested platform digital capabilities, commitment to further invest in technology excellence, and flexibility of BDM and operational support teams to maintain service levels. Arguably, all of these factors are influencing adviser sentiment.
26 November 2020
How well placed are advisers to implement and maintain an overarching investment approach for their business? One that can withstand the shocks from global market-moving events like COVID-19 and accommodate clients of many persuasions, biases and emotional responses during moments of crisis.
18 November 2020
The recent corporate actions at the big end of town – think IOOF-MLC, Clime-Madison, Hub24-Easton – and the increasing financial pressures on licensees to stay ahead of the game, haven’t deterred advisers from considering the self-licensing route. For many, the allure of independence from major institutions and starting afresh outweighs the inherent risks of striking out alone.
11 November 2020
With so much change sweeping through the licensee market, we decided to create a new classification system to better segment them into homogeneous “families” and to more clearly follow trends emerging in potential growth areas like industry funds and businesses concentrating on scaled advice under limited licence.
4 November 2020
It is times like these that Uncle Joe and Aunty Marg walk into a financial planner’s office squabbling about whether Armageddon is upon us and what you, their adviser, is bloody doing. And so 2020 rolls on…some of your clients will want you to be Nostradamus, will expound some alt-right theory with you, debate with you that with rates at 0.10% will drastically inflate house prices, argue that QE is too big and wallow in how a Biden presidency win will be disastrous for their investments. Welcome to the next few years! And oh, you will be pushed into buying gold, bitcoin or both.
28 October 2020
Are the murmurs around scaled advice finally the regulator and government’s way of acknowledging they went overboard on the compliance boxes a financial adviser needs to tick?
21 October 2020
Our Practice broker lead, Jason Shepherd has recently been discussing wealth book sales with an attached license and looked into our data to see what we can extract regarding licensee movements. We thought we would share what we found when looking at the year so far..
14 October 2020
With over 70% of advisers saying they would pay for leads, how much are they really prepared to stump up?
7 October 2020
Is it just our impression or is there is much (ongoing) ado about superannuation?
30 September 2020
Intra-fund advice is a topic that is at the forefront of the industry’s mind..
23 September 2020
The latest details from APRA regarding the Super early release scheme show that over $33.3 billion dollars has so far been paid out to applicants..
16 September 2020
IOOF will house the largest adviser network in the country with almost 1,900 advisers...
9 September 2020
Should I Stay Or Should I Go Now?
It seems many advisers are waking up with that song in their head...
2 September 2020
IOOF will buy 100 per cent of MLC for $1.44 billion and make it the largest player in Australia’s wealth industry on current numbers...
26 August 2020
The AMP brand has faced mounting challenges since the Hayne Royal Commission...
19 August 2020
We look at the current considerations for bank lending to the wealth sector...
22 August 2020
The headline news is that advisers left the industry at an increasing rate during quarter 2 of 2020...
5 August 2020
The Financial Services Council (FSC) has proposed removing the requirement of producing an SOA with some advice...
29 July 2020
Advisers Take On AMP With Class Action...
22 July 2020
We look at more adviser PY experiences, and hear from a business that is placing new advisers with firms...
15 July 2020
We decided to take a look at how new advisers are coming into the industry...
8 July 2020
A new report from Industry Super Australia has found nearly half a million Australians have emptied their super accounts...
1 July 2020
The early access to super scheme has caused the ATO site to crash...