Advice

While advisers and their licensees place most of their compliance eggs in the SOA basket, the real focus should remain on more robust client discovery and documentation processes according to Assured Support’s Ben Moffatt.

The ATO has dug its heels in, and is firm in its belief that upfront advice should remain classed as capital expenditure. But the FAAA did gain a significant concession around tax (financial) advice provision.

From behavioural coaching to asset allocation and emotional support, the evolving role an adviser plays sees them take on a raft of heroic guises. The value of that role is now at least 5.7 per cent of clients’ investible funds according to a new report. 

Dealing with the complexity of her own UK pension led the adviser to specialising in helping clients to do the same. Since then, she’s become an expert in a field most other advisers shy away from.

Advisers are uniquely positioned to identify and alleviate financial abuse cases, but they need support and an action framework according to the association.

Making a connection is at the heart of any financial adviser’s value proposition, the consultant says. But to do that, the right language must be leveraged to understand what a client’s legacy values truly are.

The good news? Millions of unadvised Australians see the value in financial advice. The bad news is that the vast majority remain reluctant to attach market rates to that value, even if the advice is digital. But all that has the potential to change.

Bringing super funds and other institutions into the advice ecosystem should benefit consumers by creating an organic path for them to follow as their needs become more complex. More would benefit if the review also took into account the SMSF capabilities of accountants, stakeholders believe.

When Invesco Global Consulting asked advice clients if they were having ESG conversations with their advisers, three specific investor groups stood out.

The advice review lead had said she wouldn’t comment on the recommendations while the government pondered its response. But with the consultation dragging on, she urged the government to get it done and let ASIC do the refinement.

Anne Graham and her fellow co-founders named their advice business Story Wealth because they believe every client has a compelling story to tell. Turns out Anne’s own story is quite the odyssey, as well.

Peter Burgess told the SMSF Association’s National Conference the industry group has pushed for some of the developments, while it continues to oppose others, such as a high-balance cap. The government now plans instead to double the tax rate for funds with very high balances.