Mike Taylor argues that if financial planners are to follow a template for becoming a profession, they should choose medicine over the law....

Investors are not always comfortable with the decisions made by fund managers, especially during volatile periods. Some managers cave in to their demands, while others do...

Stephen Nash looks at the current SMSF allocation of equities versus bonds and argues the reverse allocation would play out significantly in favour of the investor....

2012 will stand as a watershed year for the Australian financial planning industry – the year during which the various elements of the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) l...

Declining interest rates and bond yields, coupled with investors’ thirst for income, means strategies around equity income are here to stay, according to Warwick Cumming....

Apart from volatile markets and investor sentiment, this year has also seen major policy developments, new investment trends and key career and business moves. Tim Stewar...

A small number of bad apples in the financial services industry once again managed to attract significant attention in 2012....

The Financial Services Council's position on life insurance churn proved controversial, attracting criticism from the likes of Synchron's Don Trapnell....

Plan B's Andrew Black could be forgiven for thinking he is being followed by IOOF in the wake of its acquisition of the dealer group....

AMP's acquisition of Cavendish Group marked the beginning of a major push into the SMSF sector, while in the same month IOOF launched its bid for Plan B....

Richard Klipin made a shock exit from the Association of Financial Advisers to join ANZ-owned dealer group millennium3 in 2012....