The great bogey man in the room, which surprisingly has been dodged by everyone talking about KiwiSaver reform, is B2C distribution. I'd guess hundreds of thousands of customers are paying 20 - 50 bps for 'advice' which for many consists of little more than sell X fund and buy Y fund (which pays me more). Many won't even know they are being 'advised'. Surely, a cheaper way to get people in the right KiwiSaver is a digital risk profiler? 20 - 50 bps for life adds up! Financial advice is very valuable, but it is something that can really be delivered for people that have $50K kiwisavers?

@Backstage, sadly, that is true. I saw more than a few throwing toys and backroom antics demonstrating academic concerns to boot. The reality of Level 5 education is the ability to locate and regurgitate the material; there is no requirement for the participant to understand it, which is both concerning and where Level 7 comes in. To be clear, I'm not suggesting Level 7 for insurance advisers; that wouldn't be productive as the academic institutions don't understand what the coal face looks like. However, a trade approach to that bit between regurgitation and understanding would be substantially more effective. This is where you do your Level 5 qualification, demonstrating you can find the information, and then operate for 2-3 years under supervision before being deemed fully qualified. This is far more effective in getting advisers up to the standard needed to be effective, and reflects the general operating environment we already have from most providers. For those who don't know, most insurers typically require 2 years of insurance advice experience before they will entertain providing principal agencies to the principal adviser under a new/their own FAP. But that only addresses the adviser side, and it's only as effective as the knowledge of the principal adviser. In my experience, this isn't enough, which is why knowledge-sharing opportunities like conferences and independent adviser workshops are critical to professional growth. Personally, I was only confident enough to say it's time to do my own thing after rubbing shoulders with great advisers who gave me the opportunity to look under the hood of their own businesses, mostly as their BDM, but also through the industry work I have been involved in. That experience was invaluable. It didn't stop me from making similar operational mistakes, but it did help me climb out of the holes and carry on. I don't have an answer for the population; that is where industry bodies and government need to come up with a plan. But recently, reviewing some of the 2008 carnage, I see the problem as attention and eyeballs. People are either disinterested or fearful of the financial system, and they let things happen that shouldn't. Mostly, it seems the issue is perceived complexity, where people great with math seem to come apart like a 2-bob watch when the numbers have a $ sign in front. Somehow, because it's money, all logic flies out the window. Except most of what we have seen in terms of harm can be tackled with a simple question before acting: Why? Why are we doing this? What are the risks? Why should we not do this? Questions salespeople avoid, and advisers explain. It's like the numpties in social posts saying, "Cancel your medical insurance, save the money?" Are you going to pay my bills if that doesn't work out?

The case involving a $320,000 settlement is a wild ride! * Woman attends seminar run by adviser in 2020. Adviser convinces her to quit her job, sell her house, and invest $2.3M in the share market. (Client had wanted to buy a house and only invest $1M.) * 2 years later client returns to work, as the adviser's original income projections were "overly optimistic". Also withdraws $1.1M to buy a house, crystallising a $216k loss. * April 2025 - adviser panics when Trump tariffs announced, advises client to liquidate share portfolio. * Total loss on original $2.3M = $396k, including $93k of adviser fees.

Yes agree with access to kiwisaver at age 60, raising super age to 67 or 68, and if we going to down the Australian path, asset test the pension also

@JP Well a lot complained about doing a basic Level 5 paper. Then, you confirm my statement when you explain about educating the public. I guess in short, if you want cut through, we need to use less than 6, six letter words, sad but true. This would likely require a thematic.