Govt changes blamed for educator's downfall
Adviserlink is blaming its demise on the government’s decision to create two tiers of financial advisers.
Tuesday, June 19th 2012, 6:00AM 
12 Comments
Adviserlink general manager David Cairns said the company had invested on the basis there would be more than 7,000 authorised financial advisers.
However with the split to AFAs and RFAs the business changed and currently there are just under 2,000 AFAs.
IRD petitioned to put Adviserlink into liquidation and was successful on Friday. The amount was owed is unknown at present.
However, two days earlier Melbourne-based Mentor Education acquired the business.
Prior to that Mentor’s principal Mark Sinclair was the sole director of Adviserlink and was the major shareholder.
Under the ownership structure Sinclair’s Melbourne company, Kieran Investments Pty had a 61 percent and the balance owned by Palmerston North domiciled Adviserlink Learning Ltd.
Adviserlink Learning had many 18 shareholders including three Goldridge board members; Bernie Long, Bill DAHLBERG and Peter Hawes, a number of Goldridge advisers including Derry Kevin McLean; former Adviserlink manager Leonie Wallwork and well-known industry figure Kevin McLean.
Adviserlink Learning’s main shareholder was Australian financial planning figure John Godfrey who previously acquired Adviserlink from the Institute of Financial Advisers and has been involved
Paul Sargison and Simon Dalton from Gerry Rea Partners, has been appointed as administrators.
Cairns says Mentor Education has agreed to take over all existing Adviserlink students and has retained all student records as required.
Students with assessments in the pipeline will receive their results, however have to complete their study within the allotted period.
Existing service, license, training and CPD contracts/agreements will continue until their anniversary
Adviserlink’s Auckland-based staff Kate Tomlinson and Lloyd Albiston have been employed by Mentor Education.
| « News Round Up: June 16 | Adviser book values boosted by sales drought » |
Special Offers
Comments from our readers
Tell me I had been wrong with those 3 rules. One more thing I didn't say is that nobody pushed you, so blame others if things go bad.
I declare that I am not an AFA and the above is NOT an advise, but my personal opinion.
The fact that one teaching entity appears to have done well, whilst the other has gone into bankruptcy is more a testament about Management than the Government.
I pointed out to him that the information supplied by them looked like it had been pulled straight out of an Australian text book. The Australian terminology wasn’t even changed to fit our terminology. I couldn’t believe that these were the people that were supposed to be training and assessing us. Imagine if they had continued on and had been training new advisers to entre the industry.
How could they have been signed off by someone to play such an important role while being so rubbish?
@student: I'm surprised you mentioned about the Australian terminology & text. At one stage (not sure about now) an Associate Diploma (Life) awarded by AII (now, ANZIIF) was not even recognised! Btw, AII has been around for a hundred years, conducting professional studies for the insurance industry, including quite a few countries in Asia.
After talking to advisers over the years, I found many advisers don't understand the concept of financial planning, and the regulators are included.
The common denominator appears to reveal that the education 'content' was sub standard, and in fact was not aligned with NZ in at least the insurance field?
Education of financial planners for this new era is going to need to be even more critical to have as truthful and accurate than ever before.
i.e. Are financial planners going to be again taught such distorted untruths, which will again have them creating ineffective portfolios for their investor clients.
e.g. Will the 'teachers' condition the budding (student) advisers into believing that investment assets such as shares and property actually "inflate" in value?
"Inflation?"
Or will the teachers be more accurate and truthful and re-condition the students so they can then build really effective portfolios.i.e. Will they explain that "inflation" does not exist, and the truth is that it is the devaluation of money that gives the "effect" that such assets 'inflate' in value?
Again, I quote Mr Rob Muldoon in his 1984 statement to the (NZ) nation...
He stated that he was going to devalue our money at the rate of 1% per month.
Yet, you guessed it...the teachers managed to 'condition' "all those other dummies..not us?"...that he was actually saying" he was creating "inflation" at the rate of 12%pa...!?
And...based on that "conditioning", lots of those "other" financial planners built portfolios based on the "thought" that property and shares "inflated" in value!
Education is imperative...however, it must be accurate and truthful, or we shall see it all happen again, and investors will run a mile when offered financial advice.
Someone recently said that the regulators who are responsible for the newly required "teachers" do not have any background in finance..!?
Strange?
That's what a few of us reckon!
Michael Donovan
Nothing like kicking a dog when it's down.
But hang on, weren't you and your professional associations touting those same qualifications when the government raised the spectre of additional training being required to continue giving financial advice?
Sorry to interrupt your kicking. I'll get out of your way now.
Sign In to add your comment
|
|
Printable version |
|
Email to a friend |
It is disappointing to now read of Adviserlink’s demise – and in particular of their public outcry of unfair treatment. With other learning groups has prospering over the past few years, questions should be asked about Adviserlink’s ability to learn.