Financial planners have been overwhelmingly underwhelmed by the Federal Budget, according to a survey conducted by financial services technology firm, Midwinter in the immediate aftermath of its tabling in the Parliament.
The Midwinter survey revealed strong negativity amongst financial advisers towards key elements of the Budget changes, particularly those relating to superannuation.
What the survey also revealed was that nearly 80 per cent of respondents would be initiating client reviews because those clients would be impacted by the Budget changes.
The Midwinter survey canvassed the views of 103 advisers with the result that 57.4 per cent believed the Budget would have an overall negative impact on their clients, with only 6.7 per cent believing it would impact their clients positively.
What is more, only 25.5 per cent of respondents believed the Budget would impact their own advice business positively.
The results showed that 87.3 per cent of planners surveyed said they felt negative toward the proposed lifetime cap for non-concessional contributions of $500,000, while 86.4 per cent said they felt negative toward the proposed lowering of the concessional contributions cap to $25,000.
Just as importantly, the removal of tax exemption for fund earnings on transition to retirement (TTR) pensions achieved a 73.5 per cent negative response.
Commenting on the outcome of the survey, Midwinter managing director, Julian Plummer, said the Budget changes had prompted his company to prioritise changes to its systems, and that if the Federal Opposition offered its support to the Budget changes, Midwinter would not be waiting for Royal Assent before moving on the issue.
“We will certainly prioritise the contribution cap reduction, but may look to “wait and see” what happens with the rolling concessional contribution cap and the lifetime non-concessional contribution limit,” he said.
