Financial Advice

ASIC successful against ‘old’ RetireInvest (RI Advice)

Court finds RI Advice liable for failing to supervise financial adviser following ASIC investigation The Federal Court found RI Advice Group Pty Ltd (RI Advice) failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that its former financial adviser, John Doyle, provided appropriate advice to clients, acted in the clients’ best interests and put the clients’ interests …

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3 Life Lessons I Learned from my Near-Death Experience on the Mighty Zambezi River

(Download Article as PDF) There are some moments in life that remain etched in your memory.  Unforgettable moments because they were so funny, traumatic, shocking, surprising, inspiring, or downright weird.  In the financial advice game, it must be pivotal moments such as the introduction of PS146 training requirements (which later became RG146 in 2004); the …

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Financial Advisers need to think like ENTREPRENUERS

The term entrepreneurial describes the ability to see opportunities that others miss and the courage to take calculated risks to push an organisation forward. Entrepreneurs are innovative because they aren’t limited by conventional thinking. Advisers have been conditioned to operate inside boundaries set by the industry and their Australian Financial Services Licensee (AFSL). Few stray …

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An old Pathway to a new Career as a Financial Adviser

Demand for skilled paraplanners has increased significantly as advisers deal with soaring admin time in the face of regulatory change. Financial Advisers are no longer able to ‘do everything themselves’ because the advice delivery process has evolved beyond its simple beginnings to a highly sophisticated, complex and at times confusing infrastructure. This is an indication …

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ASIC Consultation Paper 333 – Reference checking and information sharing

This consultation paper seeks feedback on our proposed approach to implementing aspects of the law reform arising from Royal Commission Recommendations 1.6 and 2.7. These recommendations relate to the reference checking and information sharing protocol for financial advisers and mortgage brokers. The Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (Royal …

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Scaled Advice: Is it possible?

This article highlights the confusion and conflicting opinions on the legal certainty of financial advisers providing ‘scaled advice’.  Some believe scaled advice breaches the BID obligations and Standard 6[1] of the FASEA Code of Ethics, whilst others believe scaled advice is permissible and fully supported by ASIC and the legislation.  We explore ASIC’s view on …

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Bonuses & Referrals can be FASEA compliant (IFA Article – Joel Ronchi)

IFA.com.au analysed my recent video regarding Standard 3 of the FASAEA Code of Ethics (see full video here.) The article summarises a key aspect of the video content, which is the fact that Advisers receiving other forms of remuneration outside of a fixed salary can ensure they are FASEA compliant by following a simple test. …

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ASIC uses its “why not litigate” mantra

ASIC has launched Federal Course proceedings against well-known financial advisory group Dixon Advisory & Superannuation Services Ltd. Dixon Advisory, arguably once a “sweet heart” of the advice world with full page ads in a leading national newspaper, is alleged to have constructed a network or related entities in breach of the Corporations Act for the …

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Single Disciplinary Body delayed up to 2 years

“Legislation to implement the single disciplinary body will … now be introduced at the end of next year.” says the Assistant Minister for superannuation, financial services & financial technology. This means the force of the new legislation will not be in place for another 18-24 months. IMPORTANT NOTE – AFSLs must CONTINUE to monitor & …

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