It’s the new year, and financial planning as an industry is headed pretty much where previous posts have suggested. Happy New Year! Today, we are going to continue to investigate the ins and outs of bias as it stands in the financial planning industry in Australia. Pour a cup of your favourite brew and let’s get…
Tag Archive for bias
Higher super contributions aren’t as helpful as they seem
It’s interesting to read notes and articles and research that shows Australia’s pensioners “sitting on a time bomb” or that there is a shortfall in retirement savings of hundreds of billions of dollars. For what it is worth, the bulk of these appear to be a beat-up. For the morosely disinterested or even the remotely…
Is adviser bashing the new black?
One of my favourite stupid sayings goes something along the lines of “…. is the new black” (insert whatever is the trend of the moment. It is ridiculous because you cannot be “new” and considered a classic both at the same time). So i am actually being terribly clever on this lovely Friday, by using…
Personal Financial Advice and “Infobesity”
Just what constitutes “personal financial advice”? We here in Wealth & Security Planners have noticed a marked increase in the number of people who are looking at various forms of money market news as “advice”. It is a development that has both good and bad aspects to it. This post is a quick look at…
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble…
Come on, admit it – we all love to be able to point and say, “i told you so”. Sadly, i also am all too human. Therefore, i’m going to point to an example that is already emerging of my warning that the current changes afoot in the industry will move towards greater bias and less…
Another day, another lynch-mob
Far from me to sit on my porch playing the fiddle, while watching the business district i live in being burned to the ground. That once-magnificent newspaper, the Australian Financial Review, yesterday headlined the changes in the financial industry as some institutions move to drop commissions from their products. All very laudable steps. Follow the…
Hidden costs in superannuation and investments
Just a quick note today… With the broohah surrounding the government announcements on legislating to remove commissions from superannuation and investment accounts there are all sorts of comments being made on the likely impacts – some more informed than others. Feedback in a number of online forums suggests that many people are happy with the…
Should the Government control how your super is invested?
There is currently no specific direction provided by Government regulation (ignoring very specialised situations) on where a super fund must invest money. There is a requirement instead that the Trustee ensured the fund assets are appropriate to meet its obligations to fund members (that’s my interpretation of far more technical wording). Over time there have…
Comparing Super Fund Returns
For those who do not wish to visit a financial planner or those who simply want a quick response without having to go through lots of discussion, here is a very good website that offers fund comparisons. It is the Chant West “Applecheck” site. It focusses on more than just returns, and is an extremely good…
Understanding Superannuation Fund Returns
I’m sorry, that was just sooooo funny that i almost choked even as i was typing it. ‘Understanding’ is not a word usually associated with superannuation funds, never mind understanding anything about the investment returns achieved by those funds. APRA (the government body charged with supervision of a lot of these areas) has just released…
