Complaints up, skilled staff down: the challenges of residential aged care

Australia’s residential care providers are in a challenging environment. While some providers are making healthy profits, smaller providers are struggling to survive. This survival-of-the-fittest approach was exposed by ABC’s recent …

If clients aren’t hearing your voice, who are they listening to?

Since the start of this year the reputation of financial planning has been battered by the Royal Commission. Control of the messages about the very real and significant benefits of …

Education and the Royal Commission push financial advice into uncharted territory

It’s been five months since the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry ended its hearings into financial advice. Although nobody is sure exactly how …

Royal Commission: six principles, three key issues, and eight pointers for advisers

The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry interim report, released on September 28, addresses the critical issues of how the level and extent of …

The first step for surviving the storm that too many advisers have not taken

Preliminary findings of the Professional Planner/CoreData Future of Advice Survey show that a useful first step a significant number of advice businesses could take to help them negotiate the uncertainty of …

CBA must ‘drive harder than anyone else’ to address failings of the past

As one of the highest-profile financial planning licensees in the country, Commonwealth Financial Planning (CFPL) more than most acts as a proxy in the public mind for the entire financial …

Man in the Mirror: Advisers committed to making a change

A tourist is travelling through Ireland. He stops a local and asks for directions: “How do I get to Dublin?” The local earnestly responds: “Well, Sir, if I was going …

Competition versus Conflict in Mortgage Broking

Before the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry sank its teeth into the financial advice industry, it spent two weeks on consumer lending where …

Stress-test for licensees will reveal major cracks

During the next five years, the quality and capability of financial planning licensees will be tested, possibly like never before. Demands on individual advisers to meet new education, ethical and …

White Paper – The Shock of the New

Excerpt The financial services industry is in a state of flux. As competition heats up and companies scramble for market share, there are some new kids on the block threatening …

White Paper – The Future of Banking

Excerpt Australia’s financial services sector is the biggest contributor to the national economy, employing 450,000 people, with a rocksteady reputation. Yet despite the envious strength of our major banks and …

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White Paper – SMSFs The Next Wave

Excerpt The self managed super fund (SMSF) sector has been through a period of immense growth since its inception, to become the largest part of the $2 trillion Australian superannuation …

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What can you learn from the best brands in the world?

What can we learn from some of the world’s best brands? For every brand superstar, such as Bunnings, there’s the story of a failed competitor like Masters. This clearly begs …