Boosting the middle class through advice

Speaking at the Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals’ (AIOFP) Canberra Conference on Thursday evening, Minister for Financial Services Stephen Jones said the question of how to create more middle-class Australians is “what animates” him every day.

Responding to an adviser’s question about how to grow the Australian middle class and whether there are avenues to make it easier for new advisers to join the profession, Minister Jones agreed that the idea of creating social capital and boosting the middle class is the “core” of Labor from an economic standpoint.

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The adviser pointed particularly to the lack of a pathway for new people to come in, adding that he “would not take on a new young person into my business because there’s just too much hassle”.

“How do we ensure that we can take somebody from a modest background like mine and ensure that throughout their life, they can accrue some assets and retire with some money, they can send their kids to [university] if their kids want to go to uni, or if they want to go into a trade, and look after their kids? That’s what animates me every day,” Mr Jones said.

“And it’s why I’m convinced that we need to provide better advice, better information, and more avenues for it.

“The stuff that you’ve identified in the obstacles, we’re working on it. We’re working on the things you’ve identified, and I’ve got a few other things that I add to the list to make it easier to post about how we can make it easier for you and your colleagues.”

The government addressed one aspect of the issue of dwindling adviser numbers through the passage of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2023 Measures No. 3) Bill, which included the experienced adviser pathway, in September.

However, outside of a few measures within the bill to increase flexibility for a new entrant to demonstrate they satisfy the conditions of an approved qualification, there has yet to be further movement on this front.

Mr Jones had previously announced that he would turn his attention to a new entrant pathway in the back half of 2023.

Returning to the Labor government’s economic agenda, the minister stressed that it is important for people to attain either a trade or a university qualification to set them up for better outcomes.

“Our objective for the country is improve skills and education, make it easy for people to find their pathway into university or a trade,” he said.

“There’s a big agenda around trades at the moment in Australia over the last year. Ensuring that when they do hit the workplace, they have decent wages plus superannuation.

“And ensuring that we see off every kooky idea that comes through Parliament every year or two to use superannuation to fix every other failure in public policy, instead of leaving it there and preserved for life. All of these things are a part of our economic agenda.”