Professionals don't get objections

Hi All,

I have linked an article I found recently on the Financial Services Journal which succinctly comments on many of the issues we all face as we develop our industry into a profession.

His comments on home visits are particularly relevent - how many of us have made after hours appointments only to find the 'client' is a 'tyre-kicker'.

I hope you find this interesting...

http://www.fsonline.com/fsj/articles/110108OHara.shtml

All the best,

Paul

Comments

ASIC fails shadow shopping - again!

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. ASIC has trotted out its regular review of the 'quality of advice' survey by randomly selecting 64 pieces of advice from around Australia - and extrapolating the results to suggest that Advice is not very professional. Out of the 64 advisers 'checked' (out of a pool of authorised representatives of 15,000), they are able to judge just 2 as 'good'. My issue with this is that the judgment is based purely on the written document and does not provide any guidance as to the real advice offered. ASIC has yet to come up with a suitable methodology of evaluating financial advice and so we seem stuck with this flawed approach. We don't see ASIC broadcasting that 1/3 of their sample of written plans needed to be improved - we see a headline that 1/3 of financial advice is poor. Perhaps under the new limited advice regime, where no written plan is required for many of the guinea pigs sent out to evaluate, we will score f...

Which way are you going to go with the FPA proposals?

Hi - long time no speak... I was wondering which way people were going to go regarding the FPA proposals to limit memberships to CFP's or AFP's (those who are enrolled in the CFP program)? I guess you will get some idea of my views on this, but I am worried that there will be a lot of vested interest in maintaining the status quo. After all, when a body such as the FPA transitions from an industry body to a professional association it carries a lot of baggage. There surely can be no doubt that something has to be done about our reputations as financial planners and advisers, and the FPA is the logical body to be at the front of this. However, the lack of clear action in the past has left many wondering if they are up to it. My position is that until the proposed changes are made, the FPA would not have the credibility to be able to actively lobby our position. Most of us know that most of our clients like to deal with us. In fact, most are strong advocates for us when anyon...

Industry funds agenda exposed - world domination

This week, an interview in Investor Daily helped to shed some light on the agenda of the industry super network. The head of the organisation clearly indicated that once they have sorted out financial planners and FOFA, they will be coming after self managed super funds. "I tell you one thing: once we get this commission thing [FOFA] out of the way, we are coming after self-managed super, not because we want to burden it in any way, but we want them to be on the same footing as industry funds," is the quote used in the article and attributed to Garry Weaven. (see http://www.investordaily.com.au/11846.htm ) This is of concern on so many levels I hardly know where to start - but here goes... Mr. Weaven clearly thinks that "this commission thing" is his problem to solve - not the regulator or government. Since when does one product provider in the market get to increase their market powers by changing (setting) government policy to the detriment of other providers. ...

The Moran Principle

Search This Blog