Insurance SoA: The tip of the (adv)icebergBY DOUG WEBBER | FRIDAY, 9 FEB 2018 1:13PM Toward the end of last year, research emerged yet again confirming the advice industry's inability to truly connect and engage with Australian consumers. For a long time the proportion ... Upgrade your subscription to access this article
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FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
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FOUNDER & MANAGING DIRECTOR
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Hi Douglas...I have been in the financial services industry a long time, 30-years plus, and your comment on shrinkage of sales doesn't surprise me at all.
We have an ageing base of financial advisers/planners struggling to keep up with an industry that has been hammered by government legislation. We have been bombarded by ASIC with so many reviews and changing of the rules - what with FOFA, BID and FDSs, opt-in and LIC, fee disclosure and now a Royal Commission.
We now have commission reductions and increasing education requirements that will see most of us off into early retirement and/or out of the financial sector, not to mention ASIC intervening with tighter governance and stringent operating requirements and ever-changing compliance and education changes. It's no wonder our sales are down or the number of clients is shrinking.
The general public find it all too hard and should be confused about what is happening to this industry. The advice that they might get and the fees that we might charge are scaring people way from getting professional financial advice. The government have done this as a political platform agenda and it is not us or our advice that we give.
And all this is not necessary in our clients best interest as then they are under advised and under insured! And the tax payer will wear the ultimate outcome of this total fiasco, as in more TAXES!!!
We all need to get back to listening and having a conversations ( I agree with you ) with our clients and their needs and when they see value in what we do when we make our recommendations in their SOA then the fees or commissions we receive for our services and the advice that we give will be and is a secondary consideration. BD
Yes, agree Bob. I too have been in and around the industry a long time. Never have we seen so much change in so little time.
Change seems inevitable. What other industries haven't changed in our lifetimes though? This observation doesn't mean that it's been a good thing, merely that industries do change. We have to find a way that makes it possible to prosper, not just survive.
Fees seem now to be a fact of life. The smart ones among us will find a way. The industry will never be the same again so it behooves all of us to work on our remuneration arrangements as a first priority.