Can financial planning firms survive?

totally agree

best article Jim has written

Selling product isn't financial planning or advice. That was the way that the industry was historically remunerated, incentivised and business models were structured. The 'Sales Ladders' that AFSL's published on a monthly basis to show everyone who made the most sales was a mirror of the industry. The Financial Planning Industry can hardly complain about the changes it is faces considering how long it has been living a lie and in denial. Eventually, the truth came out as information become free and easy to access. So clients can do their own research in to product.

I like the Record Store / Spotify analogy.

For the record i think the future Financial Planners will be most like Barristers. We will have Education, Practical Knowledge and Experience and we be sitting in our office waiting for someone to call wanting advice. We will apply our knowledge and experience to the client circumstances for a fee, paid by the client, that is not subsidised by anyone else.

There will be no compulsion to see a planner. Accountants have the requirement to do income tax returns and annual financial accounts. There will be no subsidy to our fee as there is with Medico's with Medicare and Private Health.

We will have knowledge of applicable laws, financial strategies and all the risks associated and those that wish to pay for advice on a lump sum basis or combination of lump sum and ongoing fee will pay. Financial products may not be referenced at all.

Many financial product providers will disappear as will Life Offices.

Advisers that give advice to clients will have a lot of choice as to areas they want to work in and will a waiting list for appointments.

It will be up to the adviser to understand how much work is required to meet the Client Service Agreements they are offering. It could be that advisers are better to have no ongoing service obligations by not offering ongoing service.

Product providers have worked in concert with the government to blame advisers for everything. Now that advisers will change their business models it will be left to the government and the product providers to answer the Centrelink, basic super and investment questions that the advisers in their businesses have been fielding all day for the past 30 years.

I know what sector i would like to be working in the next 5-10 years. That could be a positively framed mindset however i think educated advisers with a client focus will have choices which is all you want in life. Good choices.

The best planners are already true advocates for their clients. They achieve the properly informed commitment of each client to strategic decisions about their future, based on a disciplined approach to evaluating personal timeframes, values and goals.

They engage specialists who deliver the required services competitively, such as accounting, investment, legal and aged care. As client advocates they oversee progress and engage regularly with their clients and the specialists to review circumstances and adapt strategies accordingly.

Jim is right. The old model is obsolete and breaking down. New opportunities beckon.

We are all too busy keeping ourselves and our businesses in line with teeth mouthful shark named ASIC and have no time to pay any attention to our clients. This business has been (at least for me) as a venue to meet different people , build good relationship with them and do something good for then that financially sound and provides them with good outcome. Can we do the same these days, yes we can become King Kong beating our chests claiming that we can anything and everything but in reality and I don't want to sound pessimistic we are limited in time and our financial reserves to keep everything up to date