Connect and engage

Can we have a recommendation on how to raise the funds needed to govern?

Last week the bookies were offering $4.50 on a Dutton Victory

I reckon you could name your odds on LIF being repealed under Labor

Gamble Responsibly!

Why is PI not paying out? This question has not been answered. Is PI and its considerable cost fit for purpose anymore? Surely there must be some published metrics on the amount of claims paid out under PI, and as such we should question its viability in this industry. 

The nail on the head 

“The cutting of commission by 50 per cent and imposing unnecessary compliance demands on risk advisers has led to consumer premiums rising by ironically 50 per cent and the subsequent widespread cancellation of existing policies,” Johnston said.

Also, no one is left to write about what business there is.  No one will be held accountable.... 

Commission cap increases would be great.

But I think the real barrier to not being able to service more clients is the time & cost soak that goes into an SoA to justify why someone needs to be insured. I currently have to provide more documentation for someone to insure themselves as opposed to getting a home loan - it is simply bananas.

Upfront discounting has to stop, yep the premiums will increase but its getting seriously ridiculous. The client then gets slapped with a loyalty tax when the discounts fall off. Price the product correctly.

The speed in which we can provide advice would make cost, while important, a secondary consideration in the conversation. 

True product redesign needs to occur to deal with Mental Health. This will sound harsh but really, the insurers need some sort of 'work test' in there TPD wording for MH, it seems simply too easy to get currently.

Transparency on musco-skeletal claims would be good too. Are they genuine degenerative disorders causing the huge claim numbers or predominately accident related claims?
I believe this is important to determine because currently most people get an exclusion for anything musco-skeletal related - which is deteriorating the trust between the public & the insurers.

Also insurers need to go back to being insurers. Stop the health programs and sponsoring stuff that really, isn't making them look good to consumers or advisers - only their competitors. I can honestly say I've not best interested a company because they sponsored an event. 

I understand CALI is for life insurers, but gee some adviser representation on the board would be great. This would actually give them some real world advice on what they are doing. I would say a lot of these CEO's have no real idea of how their companies are actually treating consumers and advisers. They might be getting fed a story from their exec teams, but the reality is generally very different.

 I think if the life insurance profession wants to evolve insurers and advisers need to work together. But right now, it seems very fractured and full of lip service. 

Its not the commissions, its the unsustainable market. Even if commissions were 200% upfront its still not attractive due to the ever increasing premiums and high lapse rates and the shafting of the existing loyal clients to pay for new business discounting. 

The whole market is kaput and has been ever since LIF and the group market was knobbled by the saving our super changes. 

Until the insurers reset the prices and keep racing to the bottom working on very slim margins to get new business targets the industry will continue to die a slow death. 

Not to mention the massive losses the insurers face from TPD and IP claims from group insurance market where everyone gets cover with no health questions or even separation of smokers and non smokers, the insurers of last resort that our fully underwritten clients are subsidising. 

The first insurer to reprice and offer stability in premiums going forward will be successful. The rest wont be around

Unfortunately all the managers are on short term incentive bonuses linked to short term new business, if they were linked to sustainable long term business and trying to stop all the lapses maybe the industry could start to crawl its way out from the rock it lives under. 

Fantastic article. Bridging communication gaps in family wealth isn't just about conversations. It’s about having structured, accessible systems that make those conversations easier and more meaningful over time. Loved your insights Felipe.

Howarth can promise all he wants in fact even if he promised all of this the money says his party will still be in opposition after the election this weekend…!

A move back to pre LIF commission and clawback levels

No more lengthy SoA’s

No more opt ins but an opt out

No more FASEA exam

No more professional year

No more red tape madness

No NCA’s just to suit the industry funds

etc. etc. etc.

The plan is working so far now we just need another 3 years to see it through…!

I hate what Mr Jones has failed to do with a passion. I also feel anger every time I see Jane Hume on TV pretending to be someone who knows about the economy in general and financial services in particular. This is the woman who responded to a whinge from the CBD property developers about getting workers back into the office, without realising apparently that "work from home" is actually keeping some people on the black side of the household ledger.

But I'm sorry, but my political nose always found it difficult to accept that Dutton would firstly get elected and then provide us with the solution to our problems, if elected. Neville Wran once said that you finally saw a real politicial contest in an election when the "blowtorch was applied to the belly". Mr Dutton has been sheltering in the Murdoch cocoon for three years and has only just stepped out into the harsh light of an election campaign.Surprisingly a lot of people are not liking what they see, away from the friendly luvvies that populate Sky-after-dark

How can we possibly believe what the Coalition says about anything. Yesterday Bridget McKenzie of the National Party, and rorts spreadsheet fame, sitting out in the marginal rural electorate of McEwan in front of Hanging Rock,said the Coalition would be looking to raise road charges on EV vehicle owners to fund our pothole covered regional roadways. 

Today Mr Dutton completely walked it back. The point being the Coalition is very good at getting away with saying different things to different audiences on the same policy matter.

While Mr Howarth has been making all tthe right soothing noises to adviser forums, BUT we have no idea what they've been saying to our friends the banks and the insurers. Remember, the banks are contributing around $1 million each to Liberal  Election funding, and they will want "bang for buck"

At least we know what Labor will do, the evidence is already there. They will continue to make changes in financial services regulation which advantages the industry superfunds.And continue to screw us with two obnoxious levies that make being in the advice business a matter for very serious consideration

Pass the whiskey, I need a big nip

I do not advise on investments

Why the hell should I pay to fund investors in FAILED INVESTMENT PRODUCTS

Last Thursday at Shellharbour Fish market watch Stephen Jones Jump the long cue for Easter Feast , no one said a word of this Cue Jumper , thank God this person is out of Politics soon , And infective Member of Parliament but will retire on a fat Pension for life Curtis of the Australian Public, sometime a country get Political representative we Don’t Deserve ! ( Life member of a Service Club Garry )

Yep true that and the LNP wiped out 13K in the 3 years prior to ALP. 

Property investment for a SMSF….of course clients would be classed as sophisticated or wholesale clients!

The system allows this and then the rest of the planners pay. Not a bad rort….. now all too common.

Forget the definition of retail, wholesale, or sophisticated clients…….advice is advice!!

Its all comes back to the onerous red tapes and reams of paperwork that could be as simple as a letter of advice.
All we are doing are giving the property and investment floggers a free pass to not back their advice…sorry sales pitches.

And it doesn’t stop with property, one needs to have a look at all the groups that are specialist wholesale spruikers for shares, portfolios and dare I say SMAs where the common denominator is “clipping the ticket” on related conflicted outcomes.

Yet ASIC, AFCA and the systems allows this to happen knowing that the CSLR is there to pay.

What about proactive enforcement?

What are "all reasonable steps" to obtain compensation from financial firm?
Don't these AFSLs have PI insurance cover? why do they tap into CSLR?

How much were they down under liberal

It is with greatly reluctant cynicism & scepticism that I say despite the many years of negotiating with successive governments putting forward logical, practical and workable professional solutions to issues, it pains me to come to a conclusion that there is literally not one politician in this country that genuinely gives any credence whatsoever to the plight, survival or operational challenges that have faced Financial Advisers over the last 2 decades.
They will say they are listening, they say they are engaged, they say they will fight for change, they say they will proactively push for major Financial Services legislation but at the end of the day, they are only genuinely interested in their own political survival and to push whatever it takes to ensure that happens.
That means telling people what they want or need to hear and then ignoring it and never seeing it through.
It is sad that Financial Advisers believe they are being understood and listened too, when in fact they are being lied to.
Politicians of every party or persuasion are essentially incredible selfish and self focused on their own career trajectory and political survival and if an issue appears that may give them some traction, publicity or exposure they get on the band wagon.
Its a game of smoke and mirrors every day of the week.   
            

everyone one of these large payouts have been against failed property groups....and usually SMSF's involved.

Another wholesale product failure, thrown into retail to tap the keg of the everyday adviser

To be fair they inherited an absolute hot mess. Catchy headline though.