The majority of financial planners feel a rogue element among their ranks or media beat-ups are chiefly responsible for the negative perception associated with the financial advice industry, according to a live poll involving over 100 advisers at an ING business forum.
When asked what is creating negative sentiment about the industry, 29 per cent of advisers thought it was the fault of rogues, while 27 per cent believed it was just a media beat up. A further 20 per cent said it was due to advisers not managing client expectations.
However, ING Australia executive director, sales and marketing, Dan Powell told the forum it was every financial planner’s duty to help improve the image of the advice industry.
“We’ve been dragged through the press too often and not on the right points. Many of you are financial members of IFSA [Investment and Financial Services Association], the FPA [Financial Planning Association] and the AFA [Association of Financial Advisers], and that’s good, but it’s not enough,” he said.
“We must participate at the local chapter level, at the state level, and hopefully the national level to drive up the issues that are important to grow the professionalism of this industry. It’s only you who can do that,” Powell added.
When asked about what their focus was for the future, 44 per cent of the planners attending the forum said it was to attract more clients to their business. Seventeen per cent felt it was to expand their operation into areas such as mortgages and risk insurance, and 16 per cent believed it involved changing their service and remuneration model. Only 9 per cent of respondents indicated that succession planning would be their main area of attention.
Commenting on these results, ING Australia chief executive Paul Bedbrook said: “I think you’ve got to remember that a lot of them [advisers] are not natural business people, they’re about just growing their practice. Succession planning is higher order thinking as a part of going into the future.”
In regard to how planners thought they would be remunerated for advice in the future, 53 per cent of attendees believed their income would consist of a combination of commission and trail on management earnings ratios, and a fee for service based on a dial up percentage of assets under management.
