Michelle Levy has expressed her disappointment regarding the federal government’s delayed response to her recommendations from the Quality of Advice Review (QAR).
Speaking on a live ifa webcast earlier today, Ms Levy said that she was “very disappointed” and “a bit puzzled” with how the government and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones have reacted since she delivered the QAR report in mid-December last year.
“I think the recommendations have had a lot of support, and they’ve had a lot of support from people who don’t necessarily always agree on things, which I think is very telling” she said.
“The recommendations are really good for consumers, and they will help the whole sector help their customers, their clients, their members.”
Ms Levy said that the 22 recommendations outlined in her 267-page QAR report, which was made public in February, were good and needed to be implemented.
“We hear a lot about the difficulties people are facing on paying mortgages, saving for homes, with inflation, and the government’s got a lot of pressure on its budget, to increase JobSeeker, and all of those things,” she said.
“I think these are changes that could be made, which would allow the financial institutions to actually make a real difference to their customers and to help them. We should give them the opportunity. So yeah, I am disappointed.”
According to Ms Levy, advisers should keep two key ideas in mind when thinking about the QAR.
“One, this is about your clients and it’s about people who need advice, so think about the big picture,” she said.
“Secondly, it’s actually good for advisers. This will help you do your jobs much more easily in a way that your clients want you to do. It will allow you to think about, ‘How can I best help my client? What do they need?’, and do your job as a professional.”
Additionally, Ms Levy argued that advisers should forget about financial institutions being able to give more advice.
“They are not your competitors. The whole ecosystem, at every layer, there are roles that should be played by people across the financial services sector, and this will help you all do that,” she said.
“So be enthusiastic, get behind it, think about how much it will help you help your clients.”
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Has she forgotten its the Government she is dealing with – what did she expect? No action was ever going to be taken swiftly and there is no guarantee they will roll them out anyway – she made “recommendations” – the Government ultimately decides what and when things need to be changed or implemented.
Ms Levy you have now worked out the problem with the industry ! Governments and Unions. What a embarasment . Labour serve for only one, not people just their next election.
With the greatest of respect, what did she expect from politicians!
Accountants in public practice understand a client’s tax and financial situation and should be able to give financial /investment advice.
Accountants often understand the bare necessities of a client’s tax position and almost nothing about their overall financial situation….
Having worked with Accountants, they may know a client’s balance sheet but doesn’t qualify them to be equipped to understand how markets work, the risk and return equitation that the client faces, investment choices /products, etc, etc. That is a totally different skill set. Sorry Graham, but let accountants manage the client’s books on a past tense basis and let financial advisers look after the forward planning for the client.
well played Graham..
Agreed, one condition. Financial planners will be allowed to provide all their clients tax advice and services. If you disagree you might just understand how inappropriate your suggestion is.
But they have no idea about a clients goals, objectives, dreams. Just because you have a data feed into the ATO and obtain someone’s income, does not make you a good “adviser”. The worst Advice I’ve seen having worked in an Accounting firm is from Accountants. I’m not talking about wrong or bad advice just lazy advice. The type of advice that you receive from someone that charges in 5 minute increments and has allocated 30 minutes to you and already has the next client waiting in the reception room. The type of advice where after 10 years it’s the difference between living off the age pension and having a retirement of dignity. Graham, my advice is don’t even go there. It’s too litigious. and risky. Stick to benchmarking and the script
They can, they simply need to follow the rules, be licensed and be appropriately educated. No one has ever said an an accountant can’t give advice, they have said that they can’t get special rules. Any accountant that can’t work this out shouldn’t be giving advice.
I have a SMSF, a business that operates via a company and family trust, a separately employed wife, numerous investments, etc – My wife has never met with any of our accountants once, and I haven’t seen my accountant in person in 5 years. He punches the numbers I give him into his system, but otherwise has no idea about me, my family, our goals, our plans, etc. Many accountants only operate now at a level of professionalism that planners operated at 20 years ago.
The government is more concerned about helping industry super than actual advisers