Planners starting to face reality
After 12 months of inertia, many planners are finally making some tough decisions about the way they run their businesses, says My Dealer Group principal Anne Fuchs.
"Last year people were waiting: waiting for markets to turn, and waiting for FOFA [the Future of Financial Advice reforms] to go away. They were in denial," she said.
But according to Fuchs, there is a "moment in time" now: planners have realised that FOFA is "actually going to happen", and they've realised they can't put their lives on hold any longer.
"They're gaining a sense of control now. Twelve months ago there was a bit of a passive ‘victim' mentality," she said.
In September last year, Fuchs — along with others in the industry — spoke of the problem of depression among some older planners who were struggling to cope with tough investment markets and felt under siege by regulatory reform.
From her conversations with planners and dealer groups, Fuchs says much of that depression has lifted now.
But many practice owners who have swept problems with their businesses under the carpet are now coming to Fuchs for help.
In her role at My Dealer Group — which is a matchmaking service that pairs advisers with dealer groups — Fuchs says she gets "a call a week" from a planner who is desperate to find a new dealer group to be his or her "saviour".
Often the planner has failed to put a plan into place to deal with a business event looming on the horizon.
"It's a planner failing to plan — like a doctor who smokes or a plumber with a blocked drain. It should never get to that," Fuchs said.
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