Self-managed super funds: to 2020 and beyond

Since emerging in the late 1990s, the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector in Australia has shown uninterrupted growth. According to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), as at 31 March 2019, …

How a love for fly-fishing may point the way for global economies

Buried deep in the PhD thesis submitted by Milton Friedman in the late summer of 1940 (note 1) are a couple of jokes, which I really love. The first joke …

Libra: Why Facebook’s currency will bring more convenience and more threats

To some people, the “whitepaper” and “blockchain” are synonymous with “scam”. But when Facebook, the social network giant with 2.4 billion monthly active users, announced its grand plan of a …

Judge AMP not by what it says, but by what it does

People of a certain age may have experienced a sense of déjà vu as AMP unveiled another transformation strategy last week and vowed – once more – to focus on …

CoreData Research announces 2019 Licensees of the Year

Matrix Planning Solutionshas been named the 2019 Licensee of the Year by CoreData Research.  Matrix has also been named Institutionally Affiliated Licensee of the Year, while MLC Advicehas been named Institutionally …

Libra: Why Facebook’s currency will bring more convenience and more threats

To some people, the “whitepaper” and “blockchain” are synonymous with “scam”. But when Facebook, the social network giant with 2.4 billion monthly active users, announced its grand plan of a …

From the Catholic Church to Leonard Cohen: why zero point zero should frighten you

The idea of nothing has an interesting history in mathematics, and there’s even a theory that the Catholic Church tried to outlaw the concept of zero because the idea of …

Rethinking the risks and returns of misconduct

Like many Australians, I did a fair bit of travelling around the country over Christmas and New Year, which involved driving thousands of kilometres across NSW, Queensland and Tasmania. The …

Can the Royal Commission create a new industry hero?

From myth and the first recorded stories in ancient history to present-day movie blockbusters, humans appear to be obsessed with the idea of the hero. The “hero’s journey” narrative pops …

Banking on inertia post the Royal Commission

Although the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry is probably nowhere near its conclusion, it certainly has already had an impact on the public’s …

Why lazy customers could save you today but kill you tomorrow

In most businesses, customer apathy is not a good thing. If your customer is apathetic, they’re unlikely to feel loyal towards your business, let alone be an advocate for your …

Chicken Little, ostriches and the real role of leaders

On June 4 and 5 the heads of leading financial planning licensees met in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney for the annual Professional Planner Licensee Summit. It’s fair to …

CoreData Announces The 2018 Australian Licensee Award Winners

CoreData Announces The 2018 Australian Licensee Award Winners Changes to adviser loyalty, satisfaction and needs have driven significant swings for some licensee’s in the Annual CoreData Licensee Survey – highlighting …

Don’t Let The Royal Commission Do All The Talking

Well then. What a whirlwind the royal commission’s public hearings on financial advice were. Heads rolled – not least of all, the AMP chairman and CEO – and billions of …

The royal commission and the damage done

When the royal commission ends I will have a new job for Kenneth Hayne. I am going to pay him to record Australian poems for me to listen to. Not …