Cover story
Quality financial planners are in short supply and dealer groups are scrambling for ideas to round up the best and keep the talent from breaking away, Madeleine Koo and Zoë Fielding report. » Read the full article
Editor’s letter
Further volatility is starting to have an impact on the prospects of financial planning businesses, leading some to rethink their strategies. Profits are weakening and few are predicting conditions will improve in the near term. » Read the full article
Upfront
News: What’s made the headlines
Clippings | Pivotal to split commissions | Big boost | Mystery bidder courts PIS | ING pays cash lure to advisers | Prescott goes west | ASIC moves against Dukes | Demand grows for holistic service | Uncomfortable advice ends
Influential: Call the risk busters
Organisations facing financial failure, fraud or other crises, need to call on the trouble-shooting
expertise of actuaries, who are at the forefront of risk management.
In practice: West’s tigers
Two Perth advisers are slimming down their client book and starting afresh with wealthier
investors, many of whom are riding high on the resources boom.
Indepth
Life insurance : Risk wrap up
Life and risk offerings on platforms are evolving to allow their users the ease of working in
one system, but there are still barriers that need to be overcome.
Structured products: Taxing times for protected products
These products have suffered some bad press and bad luck with legislation, which have made them less appealing. However, they still have advantages.
Inflows
Professional development: Face-to-face value
As senior advisers move closer to retirement, much thought is being given to training the next
generation in those all-important client-facing skills.
Fund review : Banking on a turning tide
Intrepid fund managers are fishing for oversold minnows with recovery potential amid the
continuing turmoil on domestic and international sharemarkets.
Wholesale fund guide: Early promise
flattens out
May began well but, after an initial rise, the
market ended barely in positive territory.
Fund focus: What lies beneath
There’s more room for difference between property securities funds than you might think,
as analysis of the portfolios of the Legg Mason and UBS property securities funds shows.
Books: Secrets of the stars
Learn how to find, and profit from, the market’s rising contenders, discover the closely guarded
tricks of the independently wealthy and get a leg up by helping clients sidestep customer service.
Insight
Incidental advice: Time to temper the optimism
Company profits as a percentage of gross domestic product will almost certainly revert to the
mean, and the wise investor will be exercising caution.
Succession planning: A question of balance
Buying a significantly different practice and integrating it with your own carries risks as well
as rewards. Peeyush Gupta discusses how you can achieve the best possible outcome.
Investment specialist: A new dragon to slay
The world’s central bankers fear they may have another beast to contend with - stagflation.
History will not offer much help in a climate of surging commodity prices.
The Tax Office is constrained in regulating self-managed superannuation funds — but would a new
entity do any better? Peter Bishell questions those who are calling for a specialist regulator. » Read the full article
Legal brief : Super’s final frontier
Advisers are coming to grips with the government’s Better Super system, Peter Bobbin writes, but unfortunately many of its absurdities and complexities are still in place.
Profit plus : Find your niche appeal
If you can identify potential customers with similar financial needs, and specialise in solving their
particular problems, your job satisfaction will increase immeasurably.
Salary cover is no longer an optional extra for most clients but, for those who can afford it, the vast array of products on offer needs careful navigation, Richard Weatherhead writes. » Read the full article
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