Chinese book-value millionaires facing anxious times ahead

The value of residential property as a proportion of the total value of household assets in China is more than double the level in the US. At 77.7 per cent …

How can advisers be sure they’re not boarding a sinking ship?

Later this month just over 600 financial advisers will sit the industry’s new professional competence exam. They’re the first cohort to submit to an exam developed by the Financial Adviser …

What a Morrison government might mean for financial advice reform

“I have opinions of my own, strong opinions, but I don’t always agree with them.” – George HW Bush, 41st President of the United States of America Opinions. We’ve all …

Why income advice is the new frontier for financial planners

Let’s imagine you’re running a financial planning business five years from now. You can generate a tailored plan for your clients automatically. You have software that figures out what advice …

The price of running a small business

If you are running a business – micro or small, medium or large – or if you are looking for work, read on; otherwise, this isn’t for you and there …

Go to Market (GTM): 10 ways to build a stronger client engagement strategy

Go to Market (GTM): what elements do you need to build a stronger client engagement strategy Whether you’re a financial planner or a butcher, understanding who your client is, what …

Life cover – do consumers know what they’re buying?

ASIC recently issued its review of the life insurance industry following several well-publicised cases of poor handling of claims. While the report has attracted considerable attention, one important aspect has …

September Is The Cruelest Month

September has now come and gone and if you are working in one of Australia’s retail banks and are not one of the chosen few, or are not very confident …

The Death of the Branch – and the Broker?

Innovation in the home loan industry is seeing the emergence of fintech companies offering a completely mobile experience in the mortgage lending process. Clickloans in Australia and Streamloan in the …

The Euthanasia Of Passive Investment

Look, this is a long and pretty boring article and contains a fair amount of economics. It’s only worth reading if you are wondering about whether the Australian pension system …

What’s on Advisers’ Minds in 2016?

Excerpt Financial advisers are facing a raft of changes in 2016 that present both threats and opportunities to their future and their business. From a regulatory perspective, draft legislation on professional standards …

Customer vs. Product centric: Why your customer must come first

In business, it’s easy to prattle on about yourself, your products and services. The problem is, in our uber-competitive world, talking about yourself to customers is exactly what won’t win …

Strategy vs execution: Why “just doing things” isn’t an effective way to run your marketing

There are two distinct schools of thought when it comes to marketing strategy: those who plan and those who don’t. The marketing pundits from the first school believe strategy development …

Self-regulation: too little too late?

The new Life Insurance Code of Practice is hot off the press from the FSC. But will it resonate with consumers after an extended bout of bad publicity? According to …

Securitisation — The Comeback Kid?

The term securitisation brings back bad memories of the 2008 financial crisis and in many ways the Great Recession served to tarnish the reputation of the complex financing tool. But …