Who should REALLY see a financial planner?

Well, why stop there?

- you need a 'black slip' (spend a week in a mechanic's garage) before you're allowed to purchase your first car

- submit your aeronautical physics 101 certificate with every airline ticket purchase

- shopping for eggs, or meat and vegies? Prove you've spent time on a farm understanding just what goes into producing your food

- new iPad, or desktop PC...sorry, you'll need a TAFE certificate in Basic Computing Skills first, plus...at least 3 Microsoft Office skills courses (buy 2 get 3rd free).

This is a really great distinction Sarah.

Think randomising the adviser people used and making it part of onboarding would be an amazing investment for any product provider hiring a new BDM.

As a self-licenses adviser/practice, I 'divorced' myself from product providers who couldn't add value to my business a couple of decades ago.

In other words, if a BDM or other service provider doesn't understand what it is that he has (that I need) which will work for my business - then no further contact!

Most of the sales people at the funds managers that I talk to have a financial planner as they appreciate the value of advice. Not sure your initial theory is correct.

Dear Sarah,

Unfortunately a lot of BDM's working for fund managers or life insurance companies are failed advisers themselves, so why would they entertain the fact that someone else is making it in life when they couldn't.

There are many BDM's who have never bought or sold a life policy trying to tell others how.

I find it strange that most don't even know their own contracts as well as they should and certainly don't know how theirs stacks up with a competitor. Maybe the reason is that most risk contracts are similar and the lack of competition (fewer companies) means that there is no one one with a competitive advantage in terms of contract offerings.

But there is the odd BDM and insurance executive who do trust some financial advisers, I know, because I've got 3 of them.