Following our discussion about whether advisers will be FoFA ready by 1 July next year, our new poll asks whether the Future of Financial Advice reforms will deliver their intended result. We are asking:
Do you believe the FoFA reforms will result in more financial advice being delivered to more Australians?
In a poll we ran a year ago, we asked whether the FoFA reforms would lead to a higher proportion of consumers seeking advice from financial planners. At the time, a huge 94% of advisers answered ‘no’ to this question. One year on, has your opinion changed?
The FoFA process has been a long journey for the industry, and it is not yet over. There remains uncertainty about whether all of the key reforms will be retained in their current format or whether further amendments or other changes will take place as the FoFA Bills are debated in the Senate during the winter session of Parliament.
Many in the industry have also questioned whether the overall quality of the advice that may be delivered to Australian consumers as a result of FoFA-related initiatives, such as the implementation of scaled advice services, will be appropriate.
Given what you know today, do you believe the FoFA reforms will ultimately prove worthwhile for consumers? Do you believe that one of the fundamental goals of the entire FoFA process, to deliver more advice to more Australians, will be met?
Let us know what you think…
FOFA was a horse designed by a committee that turned into a dogs breakfast. A committee sired by Rampant Ideology out of Vested Interests.
FOFA has one purpose, and one purpose only-it allowed the ISN to attack the business model of its percieved competitors ( the bank-owned retail super funds) by nobbling the biggest asset of those super funds-the self-employed adviser network.
Common sense went out the window
As Mark Twain once said, the problem with common sense is that its not very common
Ahmen & Good Luck
It may assist the industry to be more responsible and generally add some reforms which, of course, benefits clients and prospective ones.
Like many things though, it could have been handled better. It wasn’t thought through anywhere near enough at the outset. Ultimately it’s likely to finish up having cost plenty but achieving little.
I’m saddened that my industry has come to this. Politicians have made themselves more important than the consumers they pretend to serve and it shows up nowhere more starkly than in our industry today. So sad. I’m seriously considering leaving – I have potentially another 10 years to serve my clients as I have done for the last 30 years. I just can’t see how this unadulterated meddling by those in power will help or when it will stop. If it was constructive change that would be good. I just can’t see how these FOFA things will help anyone except those who benefit from making the changes i.e. the politicians. They are paid by our taxes for doing, mostly, nothing constructive and, WORSE, they then go on to do these DESTRUCTIVE things all the while being piad by our taxes. It simply adds insult to injury.
The young ones entering the industry may have the tolerence and stomach to endure these hypocrite politicians, as they don’t know how much better it can be for consumers and advisers without politician meddling. All thinking people have always known that, regardless of the conversation, the LESS government the better. I fear that in the important ways (thinking for your self) this latest generation is less than best. The government has them by the short and curlies as they don’t know how to think for themselves and expect government to do and think for them. They will follow blindly and be worse off for it. So sad.
I could not agree more Having a “Mum &Dad” client base who live week to week i find it hard to believe they will somehow be miracuosly better off. People who cannot afford to pay more to cover the additional costs to advisers that FOFA proposes will simply “take the punt” and hope it all works out. After all the friend at the barbcue knows how it works ? apparently??
Couldn’t agree more – get the government OUT of our industry and OUT of the way. The clients I speak with are as sick of them as our industry is. Nothing good will come of FOFA regardless of what the bleeding hearts are bleating about. Fofa is destabilizing, disconcerting and a distraction to good advisers just wanting to get on with the job as they have for decades. We will have to wear the changes that politicians make for the benefit of the politicians. Make no mistake – these are destructive changes to advisers and clients. This is ludicrous. I can’t believe the heads of life companies aren’t out there calling this for what it is from the rooftops – and that is ‘politicians chasing their dreams, not helping consumers chase theirs!’ It sickens me to think they can ride rough-shot over an industry full of GOOD caring advisers looking after their clients. This knee jerk reaction to the STORM debacle does nothing to help consumers. Politicians lying to push their own barrows as usual. Please, will those at the head of the life companies take heed and grow a pair!
I told Nick Sherry when he was doing the circuit explaining to us all how Labor was going to save the world,that the reason we are in the pickle with clients who had lost and others who will continue to lose their life savings,was because of Lawyers. He was a bit taken aback by this and asked how can you blame Lawyers?
I explained that our illustrious legal eagles for years have turned what should have been simple,plain English documents that clients easily understood,into legalize mumbo jumbo that no one understands, which leads clients to hoping that this complicated Investment with pages of information written in another language, will help them achieve their goals,which of course, if you do not understand what is said,how can you hope to know what dangers and risks are associated with it until it is too late.
The only solution is to take the Lawyers out of the equation and bring some plain English,common sense legislation back into our Industry so we all know what we can say and do and our clients actually understand the written documents they receive with appropriate safety mechanisms to protect them if a rogue operator takes their hard earned money.
What was Sherry’s response? He said;
Thank you for that but you have to understand that this is a complicated area and requires alot of work and legal expertise.
What else could I expect coming from a former Lawyer.
The Opt In Rule could never work. The latest gimmick to sign a paper declaring “we will act in the best interests of our clients” will never be signed by me. If I haven’t already been, how come I’m still here after forty years? Come to think of it,Yes I will sign it. At the exact same time Australia presents me with a politician who has acted in the best interests of all australians for forty years. Goodnight fellow working Australians.
Merv Gay
Very well said Merv Gay!!! Bloody hypocritical politicians! You’re absolutely correct Merv. For Gods sake wll someone in power within our industry call the pollies to account and bring them into the real world? If you are not doing this Mr.CEO of XYZ Life Coy then you are part of this tawdry problem.
Jeremy Wright’s comments are spot on, aren’t they?! Good on you Jeremy! The elite and politicians feathering their own nests and looking after their own, yet again. Sickening, absolutely sickening.
All I feel I can do is repeat my calls for the leaders of the industry to take these pollies on at their own game and use some clout – just for a change!
C’mon, where are you AMP, MLC, TAL, Asteron, Zurich, AIG, et al? We’ve supported you all for decades, now earn your comfy executive pay cheques provided by consumers and advisers and do something real for a change. Use your combined industry muscle and stop literally rolling over for the pollies just because it is easier to do so and REALLY support your advisers to whom you always SAY you’re committed. It is now time for the CEO’s to prove they’re worth having and paying!
Comments are closed.