The provision of financial product advice is becoming a high risk, high cost, diminishing rewards business model, particularly for sole practitioners and small practices. Although there are one or two exceptional value for money ‘boutique licensees’ in the AFSL market, licensee fees among the larger providers are becoming an increasingly prohibitive fixed cost to cover […]
How many adviser suicides does it need for the Australian government is say “Enough!”. According to AIOFP executive director, Peter Johnston, in a recent letter to Parliamentarians, 29 suicide deaths have occurred in our industry over the past five years. In the same letter, Peter also expressed concern that the 1st October 2022 exam deadline […]
Image credit: Chase Clark (@chaseelliottclark) The great irony of financial advice regulation in Australia is that Chapter 7 of the Corporations Act covers every aspect of selling financial products, including the disclosure and behaviour obligations of AFS licensees and their representatives who advise, arrange and sell those products. Meanwhile, life-changing strategies not involving a financial product, […]
Financial influencers (Finfluencers) are unlicensed people who discuss financial matters online and in some way influence their audience and or promote affiliate links. They have been in the news lately mostly because of a recent ASIC crackdown over concerns that many are providing unlicensed financial advice. Not every statement made online by an unlicensed online […]
As a private tutor helping hundreds of advisers prepare for the national adviser exam, I have seen first-hand the immense struggle of many older advisers and sadly, I have witnessed the physical, emotional and financial toll it has taken. The government’s blunt instruments in administering the exam have been the despised and now-defunct FASEA, and […]
Please read the advice warning below this article. Superannuation is so much more than a financial product. It is the start of a ‘strategy conversation’ that can be used to reach into every aspect of a client’s financial life. Think about it. If you undertake even the simplest ‘superannuation review’ you will address the following […]
The removal of grandfathered commissions, a decrease in insurance commissions and a rise in compliance and ASIC costs has forced a lot of smaller product-based practices to rethink their business model. An obvious solution is to move to a fee-for-advice model but this is often easier said than done. It is much more than a mathematical […]
Here’s why: (a) It’s part of your ethical obligations In December 2021, ASIC released an Information Sheet INFO267, titled Tips for giving limited advice. Although ASIC uses the term ‘limited advice’, it is referring to ‘limited personal advice’ (i.e. scaled advice). In the section, sub-titled, “Revising the subject matter of advice”, the following example appears: […]
Many advisers struggling to pass the adviser exam have asked me what I think of the option of transferring to a general advice licensee. This is a way of circumventing the need to pass the FASEA adviser exam because the Code of Ethics only applies to personal advice provided to retail clients. The Code doesn’t […]
The adviser exam is pitched at AQF7 level, which is basically 1st year University standard. To pass, you will need at least 65%. Unlike University exams where the lecturer and / or tutors set and mark the exam, the open-ended questions are farmed out to contract markers who did not set the exam. Therefore, the […]