financial advice

More high-net-worth (HNW) investors are open to receiving financial advice than a year ago, but they are yet to do so, according to the latest report from Investment Trends. There were an estimated 485,000 such investors on September 30 last. The report, the 13th in the firm’s annual series, is billed as the largest of…

ASX down but positive week, energy shines, asset management dispersion  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) fell 0.7% on Friday but managed to deliver a positive return for the week, finishing 0.6% higher. The commodities sector was hardest hit on Friday, falling 2.0%, with the IT sector continuing to fall as valuations are reset in response to higher bond rates….

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) was established in 1 November 2018, combining the Financial Ombudsman Service, Credit and Investments Ombudsman (CIO) and Superannuation Complains Tribunal (SCT) into a more efficient and well resourced group. Covering most aspects of the financial services industry, the data was naturally tilted towards complaints against the banking sector and…

How do you know you need advice? Seeking advice can be a challenging endeavour for most people. It is not so much that advice is hard to find, but more so that the abundance of information out there offers so much but under it may lie hidden intentions but more on this later. Here are…

Financial advice industry bodies including the SMSF Association (SMSFA), Association of Financial Advisers (AFA), and Financial Planning Association (FPA) have jumped on ASIC’s Affordable Advice review to call for an industry reset. This week the SMSF Association released their submission, with key concerns relating to compliance, both in terms of costs and burdens being applied,…

The reshaping of the Australian financial advisery industry continued on Friday, with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) releasing details on its new approach to “insurance claims and handling businesses.” The legislation resulted from a recommendation during the Royal Commission and seeks to increase the professionalism and transparency for all parties involved in advising…

Map My Plan is the all-in-one ‘digital’ financial planner that does it all. Founded in 2014 by Paul Feeny, Map My Plan is a platform that doesn’t attempt to replace the skill and experience of a financial planner, but intends to service the “80 per cent of unadvised Australians” that don’t have a financial planner…

There was a time, not so long ago, when AMP and the Australian banks dominated the New Zealand wealth management and advice sector. With Westpac confirming sale talks last week (October 16) and AMP’s ongoing sale saga, the locals have largely bought back the farm. Forsyth Barr is set to leapfrog Craigs Investment Partners –…

Benchmark-beating Stonehorn Global Partners, a specialist Asian equity team of ex-Macquarie personnel, has expanded its Australian team after a $300 million year. The team that gave up managing $4 billion in assets at Macquarie Equities to build their own business in 2019 have delivered exceptional returns in their Stonehorn Asia Equity All-Cap Fund, adding 18.6%,…

The well-known fund manager has launched a series of low-cost ETFs which will help further its reach into the retail investor market.