This is the “warnings and disclaimers” page of the personal website blog of Michael Shane O’Hara, who is an Authorised Representative (No. 241386) of Australian Financial Directions (“AFD”).
Always heed warnings and disclaimers – there’s a reason that they are listed for you. [image source : Jean-Pierre Brunga from unsplash.com]
WARNING
The contents of this website DO NOT constitute Personal Advice as the author has not taken the reader’s objectives, financial situation or needs into consideration. The author’s commentary is provided for your GENERAL USE only, regardless of what information we may hold in relation to you – should you already be a client of Wealth & Security Planners or its affiliated business.Save for any liability which cannot be excluded, and any rights which a person may have under the Trade Practices Act 1974 and similar laws, the author, WSP Pty Ltd (“WSP”), its directors, employees and agents do not warrant the accuracy of the information provided.
Neither the author, nor any person or entity associated with the author or WSP, will accept any responsibility or liability for any action you may take based on these musings.
The author believes the information provided is correct as at the time of compilation. Neither the author or WSP will accept responsibility for any loss or damage which may be suffered by any person, directly or indirectly, through that person’s dealings based on the information provided, whether that loss or damage is caused by any fault or negligence on the part of the author, WSP or otherwise.
Further clarification, warnings, disclaimers and important information is set out below.
Notes for registered users
Registered users are notified of new posts or website changes, and sometimes receive notes and content that is not on the website itself. This takes quite a bit of doing on my part, so the rules in this section are relatively simple. I will basically make up the rules as I go, and reserve the right to change them at any time. This is necessary to allow me to keep spam and “fake” users and “sploggers” from detracting from the experience of the site.
The primary way in which this will present itself is that I will from time-to-time check the email addresses for validity and against “splogger” listings. If an email address is identified as a splogger then that account will be deleted without warning. Similarly for email addresses that are no longer valid or are continuously rejected by their administration system or process. In these cases, the user account will be deleted.
If your legitimate account is deleted then feel free to simply sign up again – but please check that you have noted a valid email address.
Who is responsible for this site?
Well firstly – not Australian Financial Directions, who provide the authorised representative licence under which i give advice in my day job. And certainly not WSP Pty Ltd, which is a Corporate Representative (#276624) of Australian Financial Directions. Nor any directors, employees, nor anyone even remotely associated with any of these entities.
This is my site, and i have put in the time and sweat and energy and effort to get it operational, to maintain it, and to come up with the rantings and commentary that it brings to your screen.
There are multiple warnings and disclaimers required to be able to say anything about money in Australia, yet that does not stop a great many commentators spruiking “advice” over their website/blog/newsletter. In my case, i am taking the time to emphasise to you the foolishness of taking anything you read on the internet at face value. Even though i am very much impressed by my own importance – that doesn’t give me any more credibility or authority than the average character out there in the virtual world of the internet. Ergo, you are not to take anything in any part of this site, in any way, to be advice applicable to you.
It’s harder to make it clearer than that. However, at some stage i am sure that a compliance person somewhere will ask me to remove this very personal warning and disclaimer, and to put to you a far more business-like and legal warning and disclaimer.
In the interim, here’s a version of a more formal notice…
Here is the sternly worded Disclaimer (it’s importance requiring the honorific of a capital “D”). Please read it carefully. It is important.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Welcome to the Michael’s Musings website. I have created this website for your use and enjoyment. By accessing or using this website, you agree to the terms of use of the website as set out below. I may change the terms of use at my discretion and without notice. By continuing to use my website you accept the terms of use as they apply from time to time.
Your use of the website or receipt of any information from this website does not create a financial adviser-client relationship between you and myself. This website is intended to only provide a general guide on matters of interest, without the assumption of a duty of care by myself or any entity or business that i may be associated with. The summary is not intended to be or nor should it be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice. You should not act or refrain from acting on the basis of information contained in this website, without first seeking professional advice.
Under Subsection 949A(2) of the Corporations Act, i have an obligation to warn website users that the information contained on this website does not take into account their objectives, financial situation or needs. If any information on this website can be construed as advice, you are advised that:
- – this advice has been prepared without taking account of the client’s objectives, financial situation or needs; and
- – because of that, the client should, before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to the clients; objectives, financial situation and needs; and
- – if the advice relates to the acquisition, or possible acquisition, of a particular product – the client should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement relating to the product and consider the Statement before making any decisions about whether to acquire the product.
If you are in any doubt, please contact me to discuss this further.
i am under no obligation to update any information or materials on this website nor to ensure that the information is either accurate or complete. i exclude, to the maximum extent permitted by law, all express and implied warranties of any kind in relation to the information contained in this website.
My website is linked to other websites over which neither i nor any entity or business i am associated with has no control. i make no representations about the accuracy of information contained on those websites, and i am not liable for the contents of those websites.
i or entities i am associated with or those entity’s directors, shareholders, staff and authorised representatives may have interests in, or receive a financial benefit from, the promotion of the securities and other financial products which are the subject of information contained on this website.
Copyright in information contained in this website is owned by me. Where possible, i attribute images or material that i have not produced. For permission to reproduce any information please contact me at Wealth & Security Planners, Level 1, 197 Adelaide Terrace, East Perth, Western Australia.
This site allows commentary from readers. i reserve the right to edit or delete any such commentary, without reference to the person submitting it. Any comments considered abusive or inappropriate will be deleted and registration as a member of this site will be cancelled without notification.
To ensure that any member registrations are valid, i may contact a registered member on their nominated email address, seeking confirmation that the email is genuine. If we do not receive an appropriate response then that member registration will be cancelled without additional notification.
See, it must be important – because it is printed in red. In fact, it is so important that we’ll go through what it means in a bit more detail…
The only time information can be considered advice is if it accounts for all of the following:
- Your specific and clearly delineated financial objectives,
- Your existing financial assets and liabilities,
- Your existing income and expenses – both personal and investment,
- Your “risk profile” (read : your preferred balance of risk/return),
- Any expected changes to any of these items.
The advice that is provided to you should reflect adequate research into these areas as well as appropriate investigation into the impact of :
- Legislation,
- Tax,
- Inflation,
- Economic conditions and outlook,
- Capacity (both asset and income based),
- Available investments to meet your objectives.
- Ideally, any such advice would consider the various alternatives available to you, weighing them for suitability.
As you would see from this listing, there is no way that full and appropriate advice can be delivered on a wholesale “broadcast” basis through a website such as this.
There is such a thing as “limited advice” (no honorific capital letters required, although you may note that it has received bold type). In this case, you can direct the person/group providing you with advice to limit that advice to a specific area – such as share investment or insurance or retirement savings etc.
Limited advice carries a risk to you though. Under limited advice, the liability for the person/group providing that advice is also limited. There is still the requirement for due diligence and research but there is not the requirement to find out all of your financial details. Only details relevant to the specific area being covered are required from you. And here is the problem… There may be an issue which applies to you that would not normally be covered when advising in that specific area . If you do not raise it then there is the possibility that it would alter the advice provided. Can you spot the problem? The advice provided to you (without the benefit of the knowledge of that issue) may turn out to be wrong. If it was not reasonable for the provider of that advice to seek out that particular issue then it would be difficult to prove that the advice provided was inappropriate. Hence, your redress would be limited or nil.
This is the reason that legislators are not so keen to see the provision of limited advice flourish. It leaves a lot of holes for unwary consumers to fall through, and that unscrupulous advisors can take advantage of.
Warnings and Disclaimers
Is it already a case of “too much information”?
If it is then you may not be taking your financial issues seriously enough. Financial strategies and actions should not be based on the latest marketing “sound byte” issued from the media department of an institution nor should they be formed around the well-worn sales pitch of a trained representative. No, your financial strategies and actions should be based around a clear understanding of who is taking what risks and, what biases are underlying the advice provided.
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