by Susan Edmunds
At the NZFAA conference in Auckland, the organisation revealed the results of a survey it had commissioned Horizon Research to conduct.
It found financial advisers were considered one of the least trustworthy professions in the New Zealand, and 70% of the people who don't use an adviser can't see the point. Even more worryingly, the research found that about a third of those who did use an adviser saw no benefit from doing so.
This is probably, as our story points out, a result of the global financial crisis and finance company failures. Many people probably still feel burned by investments that went sour. But turning this around should be a top priority for the industry.
The survey also showed that few people understood what the new regulations require. Some did not even know that there were any rules at all.
Demonstrating to the public that it takes time and expertise to become an AFA will be vital. This is why I thought it was interesting that CPD is looming as such a vexed issue.
In other news, there are claims tax rules are skewing investments in favour of offshore funds, and a warning that transferring superannuation savings across the Tasman may not be right for every client.
On the mortgage front, home loan lending has slowed noticeably, and bank profits may suffer when low-equity fees are no longer are common source of extra revenue.
In insurance, we've raised the question of how sustainable trauma cover really is.
« Portability not a no-brainer | IFA working on pro-bono offering » |
Special Offers
Sign In to add your comment
© Copyright 1997-2024 Tarawera Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved
The industry needs to look to pension funds to see what best practice looks like and get total annual fees including monitoring, fund management, platforms etc, down to 0.5% pa and eliminate commission. That will see many of the deadbeats leave the industry, allow the inclusion of genuinely low risk assets in portfolios and ultimately deliver a good deal to retail.
By the way it would have been good for the Horizon research to name some names although we all know who they are and if you don’t read Gareth’s book “After the Panic”.
Regards
Brent