Minister for superannuation Jane Hume announced on Thursday that the Morrison government has made the changes due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic with registration for the July exam closing tomorrow.
“There will be at least one further opportunity to pass the exam offered in 2022 for those who qualify for the exemption,” Senator Hume said.
“Costs, and timings for the 2022 period have yet to be confirmed.
“If advisers have not sat the exam twice prior to the end of this year, no extension will be granted.
“Please do not delay – these exemptions will be very limited. Sit the exam as soon possible. And thank you to the thousands of advisers who have successfully sat the exam – you are part of a high quality, professional industry of which we can all be proud.”
The news comes after myIntegrity in Practice principal Joel Ronchi encouraged advisers who previously failed the FASEA exam to “have a crack” at seeking a re-mark.
“For advisers who have failed, I talk with them and ask them how they felt they went with the exam,” he said.
“If they say they felt they did okay or even really good and they don’t have the comment on their feedback saying a remark is not warranted, then if it was me, I’d have a crack.”
Mr Ronchi also called on FASEA to clarify whether questions about the incoming compliance changes will be included in the exam.
Speaking to ifa, Mr Ronchi said: “There a lot of Advisers, some of whom have failed multiple times, concerned about not being up to speed with the new requirements, especially given the relatively late release of clarifying information from ASIC.
“FASEA have stated in the past that Advisers need to know the ‘current legislation’ when sitting a FASEA Exam; however, given the circumstances I would think it incumbent on FASEA to clarify the position for the July exam (at the very least).”
Responding to ifa on Tuesday, FASEA said it “does not disclose questions” in any exam.
People have had forever to pass this test, the government needs to do a course on professionalism ie doing what you say you are going to do and having a clear plan, why does the government have to cock up everything it touches.
They probably need to make the questions easier. Instead of having 4 multiple choice questions, just make it a) or b). Then also maybe give a hint eg The answer isn’t a).
It takes sis to eight weeks to get results so people done the exam in May have still not heard wether they have passed or not so they don’t get any time to reapply meaning they miss out on the next exam
The only exam you have where your never receive an actual score lol
Oh dear. It appears that I am a deadhead. 2 tries and I have not made it. 50 years in the industry and going back go study! So tell me what was the 50 years about. A lifelong service which I have loved and that’s why I ain’t going yet. Another try coming up. Does it make me a poorer adviser, a slack fool as some would suggest. I will leave that for my clients to decide. If you are still struggling ignore the negatives and push through. Good luck.
Good man. Industry needs you, keep at it. I may well be in this basket also. Good luck.
50 years in planning and yet failed to plan to have it all done and dusted by the deadline….
All the best mate. Give it a good crack! Hope it goes your way
I have read all the comments below. Some are attacking advisers and others are mad.
Everyone is missing the [b]TRUTH[/b] in this. Liberals know that they have [b]SHAFTED ALL OF US [/b] in many ways and they are trying to undo part of the mess they have made, 1) to save votes and their skins next election, and 2) they are trying desperately to “save” as many advisers from leaving as possible because they know Australians will be left out with only 15,000 advisers left to service all their potential voters. Barely any new entrants coming in and not many willing to babysit them for 12 months before they leave for more money elsewhere! COMPLETE JOKE! Total mess every which way you turn.
[b]Think about, the Liberals cannot admit that they got it wrong!![/b][u][/u] They must continue down this path and hope for the best (ie enought votes to get re-elected next year, it is all the care about)
OR, they admit that FASEA is rubbish, disband FASEA (already done), STOP the useless exam ( can’t do this) as they would have to refund everyone’s fee to sit the test and face relentless backlash. Case closed.
Get that tin foil hat off
[b]Wow! How niave are you?? [/b]
Didnt vote for this corrupt rabble at the last election, wont vote for them at the next election. The sooner we are rid of Smirko, Joyce, Porter, Roberts, Cash, Taylor et al the better….
Wow. another opportunity if you have already proved TWICE that you can’t pass. This is not how you clean up a profession. If everybody passes with exemptions and extensions, nothing has been achieved. If you can’t pass the exam in two years, you need to think about another job. This doesn’t help anyone. It does not increase consumer confidence and makes a mockery of those who actually did the work in the original or extended period. I’d love to hear this explained to Rowena Orr next time!
I have passed and welcome any extension to help those who need more time – for whatever reason they want. Consumer Confidence? What on earth are you talking about? I have passed, will not play FASEA’s game and allow my name to be published and not one client has asked anything about the exam. If your clients need re-assurance that your advice is reliable and are looking for you to pass the FASEA exam, I feel for you.
How much more time? 2 more years? 5 more years? 30 years? 50 years?
If they haven’t passed within the two and a half years already allocated, then it’s really just taking the piss to extend it further.
Why do you rate the exam so highly? I’ve passed and it’s added no benefit. I agree with the other Mr Anonymous above, no clients have asked about it. It’s a pointless exam that we should want as many advisers to get through as possible for the benefit of our industry. Give as much time as possible to keep experience in the industry regardless of if they’ve needed extra chances to get through a pointless 3.5 hour exam.
If they cant pass a relatively simple exam that examines their knowledge of basis advice construction, the law that we’re governed by & ethics, then maybe they shouldnt be giving advice…. oh and let’s just ignore the original deadline that was 6 months ago…
planners who fail to plan shouldnt be planning…..
With all due respect what does it matter to you?
Because we want our industry to be respected !
?
Here here
I agree with you
By end of year there will have been 15 opportunities to pass the exam. Anyone that hasn’t done so by then surely lacks the ability to manage clients.
What a load of rubbish it doesn’t mean they at all
Get if your pedestals and stop judging other people
Extenuating circumstances should definitely have the extension provided. However, how many attempts should someone get though? Yes, be compassionate to a certain level. However, ask any adviser and they all think they are good and compliant advisers with decades of experience. Having been an adviser for years and then moving to writing SoA’s for advisers – you certainly see so many advice pieces which 100% make you shake your head and wonder how on earth this person is still practicing. Along with feeling sad that the client has this person as their adviser, knowing that a more thorough, widely educated adviser could and would often recommend a more suitable course of action.
And what about the advisers who sat the May FASEA exam and who have not got their results back yet and will have to register by tomorrow for the JULY sitting IN CASE they failed the May exam!!?? Expect to fail and re-register by tomorrow in case you did. And this is ethical?
Why would a planner have failed so badly in their own planning?? The original deadline passed 6 months ago. If one was to be continuing in planning, shouldn’t one have planned to have passed well before the dilemma you’ve outlined? It’s mind-boggling that people who get paid to plan for a living, have failed to some of that for themselves….
That’s not the case. Advisers who fail the May sitting can enrol in either the September or November sitting for their second attempt. They would then be eligible for another attempt in 2022 if required. Advisers who sat the exam in May are unable to sit the exam in July.
How are Advisers going to cope when this becomes an Annual Exam? If you’re thinking this won’t become annual event. you’re crazy…if you’re thinking sitting an exam is some mark that you’re a “professional” you’re also crazy. Run back to your conflicted representation, your product provider subsidized licensee fee and start preparing to study. [u]This was nothing more than a CBA get out of Jail card [/[u]u]and nothing has changed in this industry at all.[/u] If you’ve failed this, the first thing I’d be doing is demanding conflict free representation so that this will never happen again and someone will stick up for you and not the big end of town. To be blunt, If you’re an FPA member and struggling with this exam,and not asking questions about whose paying them…. let’s face it you’re an idiot and it’s really best you leave now.
Piss weak. Simple as that. In anticipation of enhanced education requirements years ago, I went and did a degree. As soon as the first FASEA exam was offered, I in and received my tick in August 2019. What I see left are mainly dead-heads who should have left years ago, It should be a condition of the re-sit that they tell their existing clients that they have failed an exam on ethics, the CURRENT laws and CURRENT standards that they are supposed to be operating under TWICE. Open and transparent ? Bullshit.
Still having problems getting new clients ?…read Dale Carnegie instead of attacking good people Trev?
At least he will clients in 2022
What a terrible unsympathetic comment. The exam is nonsense. If you have been in this business or industry for 20 or 30 years as many have been, “old lifies” etc. you certainly do not have to sit for an exam to prove that you are ethical. Your clients can attest to that.
I wouldn’t sit for this sort of exam on principle.
Great comment and as true as they come. I’m an old lifey, leaving the industry due to this insulting exam and won’t do it on principle. Can’t wait, after 33 years, to be rid of whatever this ‘thing’ is now that our once great industry has become. As recently as 2014 I was determined to still be looking after my clients into my 70s. Now, at 60, I can’t wait to get out and de-stress. These ridiculous AQ8 uni degree qualifications or whatever they are called are patently inappropriate and plainly excessive for a simple risk writer. Don’t even start me on the OXYMORON that is this so-called ‘ethics exam’ – how ridiculous! It stinks they are pushing simple risk writers to do an inappropriate/irrelevant exam and qualifications – where’s our specific risk qualification – I may have stayed if common sense and logic like that had prevailed.
‘simple’ being the appropriate description for those who cant pass this exam… Is this the only industry where you specialise without first being a generalist??
It is realistically only ethical that if you have failed it twice and not bothered passing it in 2 and a half years you tell your clients this fact. It’s definitely more relevant than most things on my FSG. I agree completely that a least 95% of those who haven’t passed the exam will stop this becoming a profession rather than an industry and we won’t be able to move forward whilst the standard is a 5 day course where the 5th day is the person you have paid for the qualification telling you the answer.
Can I get you autograph dude?
What a joke. More fool those of us that made the effort to do the hard yards and pass this exam. If you haven’t passed it yet, having an extension isn’t going to make any difference. What comes next? If you fail it three times, they’ll pass you out of sympathy. It just makes the industry look foolish.
It is foolish to expect anyone with more than 5 years experience to sit it in the first place.
The main concern is the double standards that keep appearing in our industry (it definitely IS not a profession) do existing adviser have to have passed the exam bu 01/01/2022 or not, do not keep changing the goal posts this is what makes our industry a joke, what other profession keeps changes the rules ABSOLUTELY NONE !!!!!
What other profession requires a ridiculous exam like this in the 1st place?
Every other profession
Rubbish
Ummmmm we are not a profession we are a joke
Every other profession needs a degree to start with, then a professional year, and then for say law, do a bar exam….up until now, you could have down a one-week course to be RG146 “compliant” and be let loose on anyone stupid enough to give you a ticket… I’m betting that most of those complaining about the exam have got into planning this way and still only have the minimum requirements to be registered…..no surprise they’re heading for the exits!!
Absolute joke
What a load of garbage. I worked my guts out to get this done within the timeframes and to allow some people an extension is truly disgusting!
some people have trouble doing exams for one reason or another and are still really wonderful financial planners. You can’t put everyone in the same boat.
quote=Anonymous]This is a kick in the guts to those of us who got onto it early. If people have had numerous attempts and have been unable to pass, they should ask themselves if this is the right career for them. If people have left it this late in the game to even have a first attempt (short of extenuating circumstances such as illness), they shouldn’t be receiving an extension…. [/quote]
Then none of us should have had to do it….if it’s not the appropriate benchmark for a “good adviser”…we all stressed and studied with this deadline looming!
You are right, none of us should have had to do it.
You Still do not get it
How so? with over 2 years to sit it, I’m still so very surprised to hear about people who haven’t even attempted it yet….given there was no guarantee on the first exension being granted, it came down to the wire. If everyone had started their attempts in early 2020, they’d have had numerous chances by this stage.
I get it.
Is it the 1st of April !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why dont you mean speaking so called advisers have some compassion to those that have needed a few attempts to pass. There may be valid reasons and they may have more experience than yourselves. Be constructive.
There may have been valid reasons if there was only a year or so to do it. But two and half years??? Now extended to over three!!!
Experience does not equal expertise.
Does this mean that a existing adviser will not be deregistered on the 1st Jan 2022
Hume probrably hasn’t even thought of that.
This is a kick in the guts to those of us who got onto it early. If people have had numerous attempts and have been unable to pass, they should ask themselves if this is the right career for them. If people have left it this late in the game to even have a first attempt (short of extenuating circumstances such as illness), they shouldn’t be receiving an extension….
At least there are some reasonable people here… Absolutely correct mate
Agree with you- you just lose faith in regulators when they keep crying wolf and then keep compromising – what next? … if you have 3 failed attempts and are 5 years from retirement you can keep practicing?
This is not a fair assessment, as there are those of us who do not cope well in an exam situation. I have sat the exam and I felt very stressed during it (even cried during the process as I felt very overwhelmed), still awaiting results but don’t feel confident. Even as a highly competent and compliant adviser having been in the advice industry for over 20 years and highly compliant, I feel that this is unfair that we have to sit an exam to continue practicing and helping the clients that we love.
Fair point, sorry to hear you’ve been through all that. I don’t think any of us should have to have sat this exam to keep out jobs.
Not to add to your stress but I have to ask, why’d you leave it so long to have a go? I’m the sole breadwinner in my family, I can’t afford to lose my job and was in no way confident. I sat that exam like my life depended on it, very early on, so I’d have as many go’s as possible.
If you are as “highly competent & compliant 20+ year veteran” as you self-attest, then you should have no issues with this exam with that level of experience. If you love helping your clients so much, why would you fail to get the exam until done months after the original deadline??
Simply unbelievable. I’m so glad I made the effort to do it in the time allotted.
I’m glad for you too. Wow
They should be charged something like 3-4 times the normal amount to do this.. Miss the deadline (or fail twice) and its your fault.
what a mean thing to say about your colleagues. Most advisers have a degree of empathy, clearly you dont.
We aren’t saying it to be mean. But realistically, what was the point of the exam then? We all stressed about it and studied hard. And the goal posts have moved (again) after we’ve completed it. It’s not that I don’t have sympathy to those that haven’t passed…but realistically, they’ve now had over two years (is it 6+ opportunities to sit and pass the exam now??). As I said in my earlier post, under extenuating circumstances, there should perhaps be an exemption process, but a blanket extension??? I don’t think that’s sensible at this point.
Advisers who have done nothing more than pure risk insurance have had to do an exam whereby a lot of it revolved around financial planning! Why should these advisers have to know about service fee disclosures social security risk profiles etc etc. Sure ethics is essential & privacy act but these advisers are probably not tax advisers or manage SMSF. Unfortunately FASEA used a one brush fixes everything approach which in the real world is just not feasible.
Only in financial planning do people specialise before being a generalist….
Seems to me that most people in this box would be colloquially known as “old lifies”….
How can you give advice on insurance and ignore tax and super????? Answer – you can’t !!!!! Either advise properly or get out. You are exactly why we need this exam to weed out so called “specialists”
The original deadline was 6 months ago. Dont have much empathy for planners who fail to plan to meet the original deadline, let alone the 12 month extended deadline, who are now crying about needing another extended deadline….
Yes!!!
BS exam. What exam at the higher level, one provided by Universities have u sit when they give u 1500 pages of content and say, good luck. No Lectures, No tutorials, no assignments.
Hume is a lightweight like the radical right who over the last years have tried to drive this industry into the ground
If you know your stuff John, then the exam hasnt presented a problem for most advisers. Seems the one’s who have left it until now are a) the ones who were going to leave anyway b) the ones who knew they didnt have the goods or c) were hoping that the exam would be scrapped (hope isnt a plan….)
You’re forgetting about the ones who have a chronic illness or injury and were ‘hoping’ they’d be well enough to sit the exam before the deadline. As it stands at the moment, there is no extension or re-sit due to illness, and whilst I’m not able to work as a planner at the moment due to my ill health, I do intend to come back into planning and finishing off my Masters when I’m well enough. There’s always an exception to the rule.
One thing this whole shmozzle has highlighted: there are some truly arrogant, self-serving unempathetic advisers still in the industry – which just proves that neither examination nor education of people who will do the wrong thing will improve their ethics or compassion – you’re just making smarter a$$holes. Just because you disagree with someone else, it doesn’t make them wrong – honestly some of the comments in response to this article sound like they could have been written by a Karen on Facebook. Have some dignity & compassion and stop hiding behind you’re
‘anonymous’ tag.