Consumer trust isn’t something to be taken for granted, but reports from the UK, US and here at home are all pointing towards an uplift in trust levels around financial advice, which can only be a welcome development.
There are significant tailwinds behind the financial advice industry at the moment, but some major obstacles are still preventing advice practices from taking advantage of surging demand according to a new study from CFS.
The legislative threads surrounding financial services “look less like an elegant tapestry and more like a painting by Jackson Pollock”, the ASIC chair said, before announcing a new thinktank to reassess ways the regulator can help make the system more efficient and less complex.
Clearview and trustee ETSL have raised eyebrows and confused advisers by shifting the popular WealthFoundations super and pension product to investment platform provider HUB24. “It’s like a power plant being run by a battery,” says adviser Jason Poole. “It makes no sense.”
Private markets are worth around $14 trillion globally, ASIC believes. It’s not sure, and that uncertainty hints at the wider problem – private markets, and their effect on public ones, is still largely a mystery.
The US advice system is the largest in the world, and the trend towards more comprehensive advice provision is a significant harbinger of a global shift towards full-service, holistic wealth.
The rise of passive investment makes tremendous sense, especially when the index being tracked is on the large cap side. Move down the index, however, and it can pay to have someone sorting out the winners from the losers.
NZ punches above its weight in many sectors, with deeptech the latest to surge on the back of a global mindset, an abundant talent pool and VC enterprise that knows where the right ideas are and how to propagate them.
Value stocks are hit harder in market drawdowns but come out of them faster and harder, according to research from Pzena Investment Management.
With many economists expecting the Reserve Bank to start cutting interest rates in early 2025, returns on term deposits could feel the pinch. Private credit is an alternative, but those pursuing this investment option will need to do their homework.
David Chan from MLC shares insights with Laurence Parker-Brown from The Inside Network on whether private equity is a logical place to invest in the AI investment theme.
Craig Brooke from KeyInvest shares insights to James Dunn from The Inside Network on bank versus non-bank lending.
Craig Brooke from KeyInvest speaks to James Dunn from The Inside Network on finding the cream of private credit crop.
Carl Jones from WNT Ventures shares insights with Laurence Parker-Brown from The Inside Network on the challenges putting larger pools of capital to work.
Opening up early access to super for housing would have a negative effect on the balances of even those members that don’t dig into their savings, with funds forced to adopt more conservative investment strategies and hold more liquid assets.
A slowing economy has prompted S&P/ASX 200 companies to keep a lion’s share of their earnings by tightening shareholder distributions, with fund manager Martin Currie identifying the resources sector as a real cause for concern regarding future income.
For advisers that have already started relying on website disclosure, the unclear legislation “may or may not” be an issue, the Cowell Clarke lawyer explained. Whatever approach advisers are currently taking, they should all be paying attention when the regulator releases its guide next month.
Managed accounts may be just “one lever of many” that advisers can use to increase scalability in their practice, but the advantages they offer to both clients and advisers make them a crucial consideration.
