Getting Advice
Tunnel vision cost $5,000 a year
A couple of months ago I met Kate at a 40th birthday party. Kate had tunnel vision – metaphorically speaking – and her tunnel vision was costing her abut $5,000 by her own estimate. The problem was, Kate was blissfully ignorant to her condition. That was, until she met me.
Beware of industry super fund advice
I’m annoyed! But rather than pointlessly vent, this soapbox article is an attempt to turn my recent annoying experience into a useful lesson for all. Many people I meet are wary of going to their bank to get financial advice. They say they don’t want to just be sold the bank’s products. The Industry Super Fund Network loves [...]
Misleading marketing finally acknowledged
I shudder whenever I see the big newspaper and magazines advertisements of companies that purport to teach people how to easily & profitably trade shares and derivatives (like options, warrants & CFDs). They promise so much confidence and certainty of gains. According to their website (accessed 20 April 2011) the business Safety In the Market (operated by The Hubb Organisation [...]
Beware of fake financial advice websites
Yesterday the Australian regulator ASIC advised they have taken action to close down some fake financial advice websites as well as closing the companies behind them. Fakers tend to try to make themselves look as legitimate as possible so as to trick the unsuspecting user. For example one of the websites ASIC closed down quoted [...]
What price for financial advice?
Two days before Christmas the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) released an interesting report into the financial advice industry titled “Access to financial advice in Australia“. There are many interesting insights in the report – the one I will highlight today is the cost of delivering financial advice. In conducting the research ASIC “surveyed [...]
Why performance based fees for advice won’t work
“About 19 per cent of investors say their preferred model for paying an adviser is performance-based fee,” according to Mark Johnston, principal of research firm Investment Trends. (Reported here today). Performance based fees will not work for most types of financial advice. Performance based fees for finance advice may only be appropriate when: The advice [...]
If your only tool is a hammer
You may be familiar with the adage that to a person with a hammer every problem looks like a nail. This is very applicable in the world of financial advice and many clients are not aware of it. Unfortunately, when you don’t know any different you are often also oblivious to the consequences, which include: [...]
An example of how DIY is costly
Do-it-yourself financial planning can be costly because often you don’t know what you need to know. With a litte more knowledge you would make a more informed financial decision that can both save and make you money. This was clearly illustrated in my conversation just now with one of the other tenants in my office building. Let’s [...]
Latest Research: You Save More by Paying For Financial Advice
Want to save more money? Then pay for financial advice. That is the one of the findings revealed in this latest research by KPMG/IFSA. Clients of financial planners on average save over $2,400 per year more.
Product Aligned Advice is (Mostly) Irrelevant
SMH article: “Finance advisers mostly a sales force, report says” is wrong and potentially more misleading to you than product-aligned advice.
Find the right property mentor
One of the messages I teach is to “Do What You Love; Outsource The Rest“. When it comes to direct investment in residential property it can be tricky to implement this due to the presence of too many biased spruikers. Neil Jenman refers to them as “selling machines” in his insightful article, which I recommend [...]
What a CFP represents
Certified Financial Planner, or CFP is the top level certification for financial planners. It takes quite a bit of knowledge, skill and experience to be awarded this certification. When seeking financial planning advice, especially for the first time I recommend that you start by speaeking with CFPs. You can find them on the Financial Planning [...]
Defining TRUE financial planning
I wish I could tell you that there was a definition of financial planning that the entire industry, regulators and government agreed upon. Sadly that level of consensus is something I can only dream about in my lifetime. To me true financial planning is about maximising the likelihood that you have the financial resources to always live the life you’d love, now and in the future. In shorthand I think of this as financial fulfilment.
Stimulate a Financial Planner
As the first of the Government’s fiscal stimulus hand outs are distributed, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is urging Australians to be patriotic and stimulate the economy by spending it. Retailers would love you to spend it in their shops before Christmas, but economists agree that it doesn’t really matter what you spend it on, [...]
Ord Minnett building crack advice teams
The state of Australian and International share markets has been so bad that stock broking firm Ord Minnett has formed teams to advise clients how to make money selling drugs like crack. Perhaps they have not read the excellent book “Freakonomics” By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner which explains that many drug dealers [...]
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