Our latest poll explores the reasons that advisers and advice practices choose to move their business from one licensee to another. We are asking:
What are the two most important factors that would cause you to change or consider changing dealer groups?
Do you have to be good at selling to be a successful financial adviser? This is our latest poll question, and we are seeking your views.
When applied to financial advisers, the term ’salesperson’ is seen by many consumers as a negative attribute. This negative perception has been reinforced in recent times by events stemming from the Global Financial Crisis.
But regardless of whether or not financial advisers embrace the term, does this make any difference to our question of whether you can be a successful adviser without being good at selling? Does it depend, at least to an extent, on how the term ’selling’ is defined?
What do advisers ’sell’? In the past, many advisers have sold products. But in the natural maturing of the financial advice industry, most financial planners/advisers are now selling the value of their advice.
If advisers are paid for the value of the advice they deliver, then the equation of success becomes a function of how well the adviser can ’sell’ that advice to their client. Therefore, the better you are at ’selling’ your advice, the more successful you will become as a financial adviser.
Do you agree with this line of thought, or do you hold that you can indeed be a successful financial adviser without first being a good salesperson?
We acknowledge that the question of associating the terms ‘salesperson’ and ‘financial adviser’ can be difficult and more involved than the simplistic argument we have set out here. And we accept that each person will have a different vision of the meaning of success. We’re running this poll to offer you an opportunity to consider what, if anything, this issue means to your own approach to serving your clients’ needs.
Let us know what you think…
As the industry draws breath after the passage of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reform legislation, we are seeking your opinion about the last-minute inclusion of the class order relief that will exempt certain advisers from complying with the contentious opt-in regulations.
We are asking:
In response to the Financial Services Council’s major churning announcement last week, our latest poll provides you with an opportunity to have your say on the churning debate, as we ask:
Our latest poll is based around the recommendation that ASIC should conduct a shadow shopping survey, post the implementation of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms, to monitor whether conflicted advice on risk insurance outside superannuation will be delivered to consumers.
The concern expressed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services in making this recommendation to ASIC stems from a number of submissions it received, arguing that the retention of adviser commissions for risk advice outside superannuation ‘… encourages the retention of conflicted remuneration models.’
Our question (post implementation of the FoFA reforms) is:
Will you be more disposed to placing life insurance business outside superannuation in order to access commission-based remuneration?
The Committee, headed by MP Bernie Ripoll, said it is mindful of the prediction that in a post FoFA world, life-risk insurance will be the product most likely to provide advisers with commissions. riskinfo sees this statement as a ‘no-brainer’ because life risk commissions (together with general insurance and mortgage contract commissions) will be virtually the only mainstream financial advice products that will continue to offer commission as a remuneration option.
But to what extent will this influence your approach to the advice you and your practice deliver to your clients? Will it make a difference to you? Should it make a difference to you? What do you believe an ASIC shadow shop on this issue would find?
We cannot ask this question without addressing the proposed Best Interest statute, which will enshrine into law the requirement that the financial adviser must act at all times in their clients’ best interests.
Notwithstanding the proposed Best Interest statute, sections of the financial services industry still remain concerned about the potential for conflicted advice in this area.
(We note that individually-advised policies sitting inside the superannuation choice and SMSF sectors will still allow commissions to be paid, but that there will be numerous circumstances under which superannuation-based life risk advice will not).
We invite your votes and your comments on this issue…
Our latest poll is based on a recent finding that 25% of people who have experienced mental illness will not tell their insurer.
At a time when community attitudes towards mental illness appear to be maturing, we are interested to know how well you believe your preferred insurance providers are currently dealing with mental illness at underwriting and claim time:
Are you generally satisfied with how your preferred insurers manage underwriting and claims processes for Australians where mental illness is a factor?
The finding that 25% of people who have experienced mental illness will not inform their insurer is taken from a survey on the recently-launched Mental Health and Insurance website service (see our story: New Initiative Assisting Mentally Ill Deal With Insurance). This new service aims to ensure that fair and equitable access to appropriate information is given to those with a history of mental illness when dealing with insurance companies.
In your experience, do you think Australians with mental illness are given enough information and afforded appropriate empathy when dealing with insurers? Are they able to properly engage with life companies on insurance applications and claims? Or do you feel there is more that can be done to enhance existing processes and communications for the benefit of both the insured and the insurer in this sensitive area?
Our latest poll considers two recent conflicting pieces of research, as we ask:
Is your advice practice most likely to recruit additional risk-focused advisers in 2012?
Research published this week by Zurich suggests risk-focussed advisers are generally positive and optimistic about their prospects in 2012 (see: Risk Advisers Optimistic About 2012). This general optimism takes into account market conditions as well as Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) related issues.
On the other hand, a recent survey from eFinancialCareers says that only around 3% of advice practices are most likely to be hiring one or more risk-focused advisers (ahead of other occupations) during this year. While this was only one component within a broader survey, it does appear to be at odds with Zurich’s findings of the generally positive outlook for 2012 held by risk advisers themselves.
Other points of view suggest the implementation of FoFA will lead to significant job losses within the broader financial services sector (see: Industry Debates Extent of FoFA Job Losses), which must, if this eventuates, have a serious impact on the recruitment prospects for risk-focused advisers.
Within these potentially conflicting messages and opinions, we’re keen to find out where your own practice is actually positioned on this question.
Is your own firm most likely to recruit more risk-focused advisers this year, taking into account all the economic, social and regulatory factors impacting your business? Or will you be either maintaining your current ratio or more likely to recruit in other areas in 2012?
As the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) debate heats up with the PJC hearings in Sydney this week , we want to know where you stand today. Our latest poll question asks:
As we look ahead to the issues that will impact the financial bottom line of advice practices this year, we are asking:
What single issue will have the biggest impact (positive or negative) on the profitability of your advice practice in 2012?
We want to know whether elements of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms are at the forefront of your thinking in terms of financial impact on your business, or whether the major concern for your advice practice relates more to Australia’s stagnant economy or to other factors, such as changing licensee fee structures.
The final details for some elements of FoFA are still to be fully revealed, particularly for areas such as Opt-in, and it should be remembered that the legislation has yet to be passed by Parliament.
However, it emerged at the end of 2011 that there may be room for advisers and licensees to continue to access volume bonus payments for investment products as well as for risk products, as long as it can be shown that those volume-related payments do not represent conflicted remuneration (see: Door Open for Volume Bonuses to Continue). How important is this to you, compared with other factors that will potentially impact your financial bottom line this year?
Let us know what other issues you believe will have a major bearing on your profitability this year…
As the industry looks forward to some well-earned down time at the end of an eventful and sometimes stressful financial services year, we are posing a question that we are sure you have been contemplating for quite some time:
What should become the collective name for a group of financial advisers?
We have assembled a number of choices, from which we are asking you to select your top five preferences. Most of these terms represent positive attributes associated with financial advice, while others are just plain silly, but we liked the idea and included them anyway. Your choices are:
So, as you reach for your fourth helping of that tasty finger food at your end of year function, while scrolling through the latest updates coming through on your hand held device, we suggest you take a brief moment to reflect on this very important question and cast your vote.
Maybe you have your own ideas and we will welcome your suggestions, if you would care to share them.
We will report back to you in our last news email for the year next week and let you know the most popular choices…
